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Maps, platas, charta, ate, may bo filmod at diffarant roduction ratios. Thoso too larga to bo ontlroly includod In ono oxpoaura aro filmod boginning in tho uppor loft hand comor, loft to right and top to bottom, aa many framaa aa raquirad. "ilia following diagrams illustrata tha mathod: Las cartas, planchas, tablaaux, ate, pouvont Atra fllmte i daa taux do rMuction diff Aronts. Lorsquo lo documont ost trop grand pour Atro roproduit on un soul clichi, 11 ost film* A partir do I'angia aup4riaur gaucha, da gaucha h droito, ot do haut on baa, an pronant la nombro d'Imagaa n^cassairo. Las diagrammos suivants illustrant la mAthodo. 1 2 3 • 1 2 3 4 5 6 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS FROM THE FRENCH OF THE COUNT DE BUFFO N. JLLUSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS; A N D A TREFACE, NOTES, and ADDITIONS, BY THE TRANSLATOR. IN NINE VOLUMES. VOL. VIII. ' LONDON: PRINTED FOR A. STRAHAN, AND T.CADELL IN THE STRANDJ^ AND J. MURRAY, N" 32, FLEET-STREKT. MDCCXCIII. u « CuL ■('\ N J * •...'I t ,■;:.,, .! CO K t E NT S Of THfi EIGHTH VOLUME. •!•! ■ ■ . , V. ffUE this ^ the White Bis The Black Ibis The Curlews 2. The Whimbrel — * 3. The Green, ot* Italian Curlew The iirown Curlew The -Spotted Curlew The Bald Curlew The Crefted Curlew 4» 5. 6. 7- CuRLiw3 of the New Continent 1. The Red Curlew 2. The White Curlew — ^. The Red- fronted Brown Curlew 4. The Wockl Curlew — 5. The Guarona ** 6. TheAcalot — 7. The Shore Matuitui 8. Th« Great Curlew of Cayenne A 2 I 17 \% 24 26 !A 29 — — 30 — — 3* 4^ 42 43 45 46 CONtrNTS. fbf Lapwing — — 2. The Swifs Lapwing — 3. The Armed Lapwing of Senegal 4. The Armed Lapwing of the Indies 5. The Armed Lapwing of Louifiana 6. The Armed Lapwing of Cayenne ^e Lapwing-Plouer — — ^he Plovers >-*» — 1. The Golden Plover — »• • 2. The Alwargrim Plover — 3. The Dotterel — — 4. The Ring Plover — 5. The Noify Plover -^ -^^ — 6. The Crefted Plover — • 7. The Spur-winged Plover — 8. The Hooded Plover — •* 9« The Crowned Clover — 10. The Wattled Plover — • 11. The Armed Plover of Cayenne ^he Tluvian — *— 'The Great Plover — — ^he Long-Shank — — The Oyjler -Catcher — — The Swift-Runner — — The Turn-Sfone — — The Water-Ouzel — - The Water-Thrujh — — •The Knot — — The Rails ' — — I. The Land Rail — • — a. The Water Rail — 3. The Maroucttc — Page 47 58 60 62 63 65 67 71 78 82 «4 88 93 95 96 97 98 99 100 102 109 "3 121 123 126 13a 134 136 ^37 144 147 FOKEIGjJ CONTENTS Foreign Birds of the Ancient Continent , which are related to the RaiL — . ; ; — - I. The Tiklin, or Philippine Rail — 2. The Brown Tiklin — — 3. The Striped Tilclin — — v 4. The Collared Tiklin — — Foreign Birds of the New Continent^ which are related to the Rail — • .— 1. The Long-Billed Rail — ' — 2. TheKiolo — . _ — 3. The Spotted Rail of Cayenne — 4. The Virginian Rail — — 5. The Jamaica Rail — -* 6. The Little Cayenne Rail — •« ^he Caurale — — — The IVater-Hen — -— The Little fVater-Hen — — The Porzanat or the Great TFater-Hen — The Grinetta — — — . The Smirring -— — — The Glout ^— — Page ■ 7 150 ib. 152 >53 154 ib. »5S 156 »57 158 '59 161 163 16S 169 170 171 — 172 Foreign Birds, which are related to the IVa- ter-Hen — ■— — 1. The Great Water- Hen of Cayenne — 2. TheMittek — . — — : 3. The Kinga]^ 1.^ .^ .^ The Jacann — — — 2. The Black Jacana — . — 3. The Green Jacana — — 4. The Jacan^-Peca — -* 5. The Variegated Jacana ■— -* The Sultana Hen^ or Porphyrion — — 173 ib. »74 »75 177 182 '83 18s 185 Birds I CONTENTS. > Birds which are related to the SuU4naHen 1. The Green Sultana ^^'en — t 2. The Br(»wn Sultaijii Hell — ^. T'iic Angoli -*- ', - 4. The Little Sultana Hen — 5. The Favourite '— 6. TheAciiuH — V^he Common Coot — ^he Crefted Coot — — The Phaiaropes — — 1. The Cinereous Phalaropc — • 2. The Red Phalarope — 3. The Phalarope with Indented f'eftoons The Grehe — — 2* The Little Grebe — 3. The Crefted Grebe — The Little Crefted Grebe — The Horned Grebe — The Little Horned Grebe — The Black-breafted Grebe — • The Louifiana Grebe -- 9. The Red- Necked Grebe — • 10. The Great Grebe — 4. 5. 6. 7- 8. The Che/nut — — — 2. The Philippine Chefnut -^. — 3. The Circled-Bill Chefaut — 4. The St. Domingo Chclhut — - —• 5. The Coot. Grebe — — The Divers — ,^ — 1. The Great Diver — — 2. The Little Diver — -» 3. The Sea-Cat Diver •*• im¥ ■ 4. The Imbrim, or Great Northern Diver 5. The Lumme, or Little Diver of the Northern Sea — -i- _ Page 19s 196 197 198 199 200 202 209 ib. 210 211 21Z 213 218 219 229 221 122 223 124 «s ib. 228 230 ib. 231 232 233 234 237 238 241 243 The ly- C. O N T E N T S. ^bs Mergatt/er — — a. The Crcfted Merganfcr — 3. The Piettc, or Little Crcfted Merganfer 4. The Mantled Merganfer — 5. The Stellated Merganfer — . 6. The Crowned Merganfer — ^ *tbe Pelican — — Vakieties of the Pelicntt — 1. The Brown Pelican —, .:^* 2. The Indented-billed Pelican — The Cormorant — —. 1^ The Shag — .m. ^m The Sea Swallows — — i*-b 1. The Great Sea Swallow — .-. 2. The Leffer Sea Swallow — __ 3. The Guifette — »» 4. The Black Guifette} or, the Scare-Crow 5. TheGachet — . — 6. The Sea Swallow of the Philippines — 7. The Sea Swallow of great Alar Extent 8. The Great Sea Swallow of Cayenne •*- fhe Tropic Bird ^ .^ 1. The Great Tropic Bird — 2. The Little Tropic Bird — -. 3. The Red-fhaftcd Tropic Bird — The Booties — — — . 1. The Common Booby — ^ -^ 2. The White Booby — ^ 3. The Great Booby «„ 4. The Little Booby «« 5* The Little Brown Booby — — 6* The Spotted Booby -« .^ The Gannet — — .^ The Frigat — .^ Jh( Gulls and the M^'tfis « Page 248 254 255 256 258 259 277 278 281 282 290 297 30a 307 308 3i« ■ 312 313 3'5 32t 322 323 326 333 336 337 339 ib. 340 341 346 354 I. The I -, 'r ^ CONTENT^. 1. The Black-mantled Gull — — 2. The Gray-mantled Gull — 3. The Brown Gull — — . 4. The Variegated Gull ; or, the GriCard 5. The Brown-gray-mantled Gull j or, the Bur- » gomafter — "" 6. The Gray and White-mantkd Gull — ^c White Mew — — "" . a. The Spotted Mew j or, the Kutgcghef 3. The Great Cinereous Mew } or, the Blue- footed Mew — "~ 4. The Little Cinereous Mew — 5. The Laughing Mew — "- 6. The Winter Mew — — the Lahbe, or Dung-Bird — — the Long-tailed Lahbe — — the Anhinga — — — the Rufous Anhinga — theShearhill . — ■ — "~ the Noddy — ^ — fhe Ai'ojei — • — — the Runner — — "^ the Red Flamingo -r- •*• Page 365 366 368 37» 376 379 381 384 386 389 394 400 404 406 410 412 418 422 4t8 43 ? ^, r f i ■ THE THE NATURAL HISTORY O F B R D S. The IBIS*. OF all the fuperftitious pradlces that have ever degraded the human race, the wor- (hip of animals might be deemed the mofl abjedt and the mofl: abfurd : and yet did that propen- iity originate from the pureft of motives. In the early ages of the world, man was on all iides encompafled by dangers, and had to ftruggfe naked and unarmed againfl the formidable at- tacks of his numerous foes. Thofe animals, therefore, which confpired with his efforts to deftroy and eradicate the hoililc tribes, were na- * In Greek ij?i;, which the Romans adopted. It has no name in European languages, as being unknown in our climates. Ac- cording to Albertus, it was called in Egyptian Lehtras. In Avi- cenna» the word Anfchux. denotes the Ibis. St. Jerome was mif- taken in tranflating Janfchuph ( Leviticus t ii. J/aiab, xxxiv.) by Ibis> for a noAurna! bird is meant in that pafTage. Some inter- preters render the Hebrew word Ti*i/chemet by Ibis. VOL. VIII. . A turally IBIS. turally entitled to his regard and affedion. But the fentiment of gratitude afterwards degene- rated into veneration -, and fear and interefl, nourilliing the groveUng propenfion, both the ufeful and the pernicious creatures were aHke exalted into the rank of gods. Egypt is one of thofe countries where animal - worship was of the highell antiquity, and ob- ferved with the moft fcrupulous attention, for many ages ; and that humiliating fpecies of ido- latry, which is authenticated by all the monu- ments that have been tranfmitted to poflerity, feems to prove, that the original fettlers had long contended with the noxious animals. In fadt, crocodiles, ferpents, grafshoppers, and all the other loathfome creatures, teemed in the deep and fpacious mud, deluged by the annual inundation of the river. The heat of a tropical fun foftering the rich flime would engender infi- nite numbers of offenfive and fhapelefs beings, which would fucceffively be effaced, till the earth, purged of its impurities, was occupied by nobler inhabitants. " Swarms of little venomous ferpents," the early hiftorians relate *, ** rofe out of the flime " of marHies, and flying in a great body towards ** Egypt, would have entered into that country " and fpread defolation, had not the Ibis op- " pokd itfelf to their inroad, and repelled them." • Hno'lotus, Euterpe, N" "jS. iElian, Solinus, Marcellinus, Pomponius Mela, lib, iii. 8. Was IBIS. 3 Was not this the fource of the fuperflitious ve- nerition paid to that bird ? The priefts encou- raged the notions of the vulgar; when the gods, they faid, deigned to aflume a vifible form, it. was that of the Ibis. Their tutelar deity T^hoth or Mercury, the inventor of arts and of laws, had already undergone that transformation * ; and Ovid, faithful to this ancient mythology, in the battle of the gods and giants, conceals Mer- cury under the wings of an Ibis, &c -f*. But fet- ting afide all thefe fables, we have flill to exa- mine the hiftory of the combats between thefe birds and the ferpents. Herodotus affures us, that he went to view the field of battle. " Near ** the town Butus," he fays, " on the confines of " Arabia, where the mountains open into the " vaft plain of Egypt, I there faw immenfe ** heaps of ferpents' bones J." Cicero cites this pafTage §, and Pliny feems to confirm it, by fay- ing, that the Egyptians invoke the Ibifes againfl the invafion of ferpents |{. We read alfo in the hiftorian Jofephus, that when Mofes made war on the Ethiopians, he carried, in cages of papyrus^ a great number of Ibifes, to oppofe them to the ferpents ^. This • Plato in ?h/edr. \ Metam. lib. v. I Herodotus, Euterpe, N°* 75 and ';i6. § Lib. i. De Nat. Deorum. II Hiil. Nat. Lib. x. 28. fl Atttiq. Judaic, lib. ii. 10. B 2 flory, n;: I ( ■.!!; 4 IBIS. ftory, which is not very probable, is eafily ex- plained by a fa(fl mentioned by Maillet, in his defcriptlon of Egypt : " A bird named Pharaoh* s ** capon (known to be the Ibis) follows more than " an hundred leagues the caravans in their ** route to Mecca, for the fake of the dung left " at the encampments, though at other times it " is never feen on that track *." We may prefume, that the Ibifcs thus accompanied the Hebrew nation in their march out of Egypt ; and that Jofephus has disfigured the fadl, by af- cribing to the prudence of the general what was due only to the inftindt of the birds ; and has introduced the army of i^thiopians and the cages of papyrus to embeliifli his narration, and to exalt our idea of the legifiator of the Jews. To kill the Ibis was, among the Egyptians, forbidden under pain of death -f*. That peo- ple, whofe temper was equally gloomy and vain, invented the lugubrious art of preparing mummies, by which they endeavoured, we may fay, to perpetuate death, and to counterad: the benevolent views of nature, which, in compaf- fion to our feelings, labours aiUduoufly to efface every difmal and funereal image. Not only were they folicitouc to preferve human bodies, they applied their fl^ill in embalming to the facred animals. Many receptacles of mum- • Defcription de I'Egypt, partie II. p. t Herodotus, uti fupra. 23. ■I •:i mies IBIS. 5 mies which have been dug up in the plain of Saccara are called bird-pits, b^caufe only birds are fu? i embalmed, particularly the Ibis, con- tained in tall earthen pots, whofe orifice is /lopped with cement. We have received feveral of thefe vefTcls ; and in all of them we difcover- ed a fort of doll, formed by the bandages which encafed the bird, of which the greateft part fell into black duft when the ligatures were removed. We could however perceive all the bones of a bird, with the feathers flicking to fome bits of flelli that remained folid. From thefe frag- ments we could judge of the fize of the bird, which was nearly equal to that of the curlew; and the bill, which was preferved in two of the mummies, fhowed the genus : it was as thick as that of a flork, was curved like the bill of the curlew, but not channelled : and as its curva- ture is equal throughout, we may place the Ibis between the dork and the curlews *. In fa(5t, fo nearly is it related to both thefe genera of birds, that the modern naturalifls have ranged it with the latter, and the ancients had clafled it with the former. Herodotus has diflindtly cha* radlerized the Ibis, by faying that " its bill is ** much hooked, and its legs like thofe of the ** crane." He takes notice of two fpecies : " The firfl," he relates, ** is entirely black; ** the fecond, which conftantly occurs, is all • Sec one of the bills reprefented by Edwards, plate 105. B 3 " white. IBIS. « ^i )v I ft white, except ihe tips of the feathers of the wing and tail, which are very black ; and the ** neck and head, which are only covered with " fkin." But I mult here remove the obfcurity with which this paiTage of Herodotus has been in- volved by the ignorance of tranllators, and which cafts an air of fable and abfurdity on the whole. A claufe which ought to have been rendered literally, " iv/jic/j oftcncr occur among ** men s feet y' runs thus in their verfions, ** thefe *' indeed have feet like men,'* Naturalifts, at a lofs to conceive the import of this odd compa- rifon, have ilrained to explain or palliate it. They fuppofe that Herodotus miflook the flork for the white ibis, and imagined its flat toes to refemble thofe of a man. But this interpreta- tion was unfatisfadory ; and the Ibis with human feet might have been rejedled among the fables. Yet under this abfurd image was it admitted as a real exiilence ; and we cannot help being fur- prized to find at prefent this account inferted in the memoirs of a learned academy * : though the chimera is only the produd:ion of the tranf- lator of that ancient hiftorian, whofe candour in acknowledging the uncertainty of his narratives, when drawn from other information, ought to • " The other fpecies (the White Ibis) has its feet fafhioned ** like the human feet." Mitnohss de V Academic des Infcriptions IS Belles Lettres, tome ix. p. 28. procure in IBIS. 7 procure him credit in fubjedls that came under his own obfervation. Ariftotle, too, difcriminates two fpecies of Ibis ; he adds, that the white kind is fpread over all Egypt, except near Pelufium, where only the black ones occur, which are feen in no other part of the country *. Pliny repeats this par- ticular obfervation -f. But all the ancients, at the fame time that they remark the difference of the two birds in point of colour, afcribe to them both the fame common figure, habits, and inftinds; and regard Egypt, in exclufion to every other country, as their proper abode J. If it was carried abroad, they alledge, it lan- guifhed out its days, confumed by the defire of reviliting its native foil §. A bird fo ardently attached to its country, naturally became the emblem of it : the figure of the Ibis, in the hieroglyphics, denotes Egypt, and few images or characters are oftener repeated on all the mo- numents. They appear on moft of the obe- lifks ; on the bafe of the ftatue of the Nile, at the Belvidere in Rome, and alfo in the garden of the Thuilleries at Paris. In the medal of Adrian, where Egypt appears proflrate, the Ibis is placed at her fide ; and this bird is figured with an • Hift. Animal. Hi. ix. 27. f Hift. Nat. li^. x. 30. X Strabo places them alfo on a frefh-water lake, near Lichas, in the extremity of Africa. § i£Iian. B 4 elephant I:|; \ i : i ^!il ':;i I t' I i.. 9 IBIS. elephant in the medal of Quintus Marius, to fignify Egypt and Lybia, the fcenes of his ex- ploits, 6cc. If fuch was the popular and ancient regard paid to the Ibis, it is not furprizing that its hif- tory has been charged with lables. It has been faid to procreate with its bill * : Solinus feems not to doubt this; but Arillotle juftly ridicules the notion of virgin purity in this facred bird -f*. Picrius relates a wonder of an oppoiite kind; he fays that, according to the ancients, the ba- filifk was hatched from an Ibis' tg^, formed in that bird from the venom of all the ferpentj which it devoured. They have alfo afferted that the crocodiles and ferpents, when touched with an Ibis' feather, remained motionlefs as if enchanted, and often died on the fpot. Zoro- afler, Democritus, and Philo have advanced thefe tales -, and other authors have reprefented it as living to an extreme age : the priefts of Hermopolis pretended even that it might be immortal, and as a proof they (hovved Appion an Ibis fo old, they faid, that it was no more fubjed to death. Thefe are but part of the fidions on the fub- jed of the Ibis, fabricated in the religious land of Egypt : fuperflition ever runs into extremes ; but if we confider the political motives that f De Generalione Jlm. de Pkbot. § Simile quiddam (folerti uti fupra. Though 4 I i ■I 1i: rj. WHITE IBIS. »5 Though the Ibis is not granivorous, its ven- tricle is a fort of gizzard, whofe inner mem- brane is rough and wrinkled. We have more than once remarked this incongruity in the ftrufture of birds -, in the caflbwary, for inftance, which does not feed on flefli, the ftomach is membranous like that of the eagle *. Perrault found the inteftines to be four feet eight inches long ; the heart was of a middling fize, and not extremely large, as Merula pre- tended ; the tongue, which was very ihort, and concealed at the bottom of the bill, was only a fmall cartilage inverted by a flefhy membrane ; which gave occafion to Solinus' remark, that this bird had no bill. The globe of the eye was fmall, not exceeding fix lines in diameter. " This White Ibis," fays Perrault, " and ano- " ther which was kept at the tnenagerie at Ver- " fiilles, both of them brought from Egypt, were *' the only birds of this kind ever feen in France." According to him, all the defcriptions of the modern authors have been borrowed from the * An interefting circiimftance in this defcription concerns the paffiige of the chyle in the intclliiit's of birds. InjeAions were made into the mefenteiic vein of one of the ftorlcs difledlcd with the Ibis, and the liquor pafil'd into the cavity of the inteftines : and a portion of intertine having been filled with i..ilk and tied at both ends, the comprefled liquor pafled into the mefenteric vein. Perhaps, adds the anatomill, this paffage is common to all the tribe of birds ; and as they exhibit no ladleal veins, we may juftly conjefture, that this is the courfe of the ciiyle in pafling from the inteftines into the mefentery. ancients. WHITE IBIS. ancients. This remark appears to be juft ; for Belon did not recognize the White Ibis in Egypt, which is improbable, if he had not taken it for a ftork. 3 m if [A] Specific charaflcr of the White Ibis, Tautalus-lhis : ** Its face is red, its bill yellcrvv, its feet gray, its wing-quills black, its body tawny-whitifh." ■II I :' t '7 1 The BLACK I B I S. Tantalus Nigr. Gmel. Numtnius Holo/ericeus. Klein. Uis Nigra. Charlctoiii " 'Tp H I s bird," %s Bdon, " is fomewhat ^ fmaller than a curlew * ;" it is fmaller therefore than the white ibis, and muft alfo be Shorter: yet the ancients aflert that the two ^ccies were fimilar in every refpecfl, except in colour. The prefent is entirely black ; and Be- lon feems to infinuate that the front and face are covered with bare fkin, by faying that the head is like that of a cormorant. But Her(>viOtus, who feems to have bellowed attention on his two defcriptions, does not reprefent the head and neck as featherlefs. The other charadters and the habits are dated to be the fame in both birds. * *' This Black Ibis is as high on tegs as a bittern, and its bill is as thick as the thumb at its origin^ pointed at the end, vaulted, and fomething curved^ entirely red, as* are the thighs and the legs." Obferv. de Belon, Paris 1 555. liv. ii. p. I02. [A] Specific chai-adler of the Black Ibis, Tantalus Niger, ** Its face, its bill, and its feet, red ; its body black." VOL, VIU, \u - C i« ] The CURLEWS. Les Courlis. Buf\ FIRST SPECIES. Scelopax-Jrqitata. Linn, and Gmel. Numtnius. BrifT. Will. Klein, &c. • Numenius jirquata. Lath. X\\ ^T^HOSE words which imitate the cnes of animals are the names affigned them by na- ture, ^nd are the firft which men have impofed, 'the favage languages exhibit innumerabk ex- amples of thefe inftindtive appellations, and they have been more or lefs preferved in the polifhed tongues -, in the Greek efpecially, the fineft and the moft defcriptive. Without the name elorios, the Ihort defcription which Arif- totle gives of the Curlew would be infufficient to diftinguifli it from other birds -j-. The French • In Greek EAw^jo?, or N»j[*>)irio? : in Latin Numenius, Arquatat Falcmellus : in Italian Arcafe, Torquato : in German IVimi-yogel, Wetter-Vogelt (luind-bird, iveather-bird ) ; and on the Rhine, near Stralburg, Rtgen-Vogel (rain-bird) t in Dutch Hantkens : in Da- m(h Heel-Spevet and Regen-Spaaer : in Norwegian Lang-neel, Spue : in Lapponic Gufgajiak. f ** The elorios is a bird that lives near the fett* and like the lail i it feeds along the fhore in fine weather." names m ICJ^Hr THE COMAfoar CITU^^NV". fi I, 11 1 tit 'f !• r CURLEWS. »9 names courlis^ turlist are words imitative of its voice * ; and in other languages, the appella- tions curlewt caroli, and tarlino^ &c. mark the fame relation. The epithets arquata 2iXi^falcu nellus allude to the hooked form of its bill -f- : and fo alfo does the term numetiius, derived from neomenia or new moon; becaufe the bill refeiT^bles the moon's crefcent. The modern Greeks denominate it macrimiti, or long nofe J, on account of the great length of its bill com- pared with that of the body. The bill is flen- der, furrowed, equally curved throughout, and terminated in a blunt point; it is weak, and its fubilance tender, and calculated only to dig up the worms from the foft earth. This cha- rader might fet the Curlew at the head of a numerous tribe of birds, fuch as the woodcocks, the fnipes, the horfemen, &c. which, not being armed with a bill fit for catching or piercing fifh, are obliged to fubfift on the various infe<5ts and reptiles that fwarm in mud and in wej boggy grounds. The neck and feet of the Curlew are long ; the legs partly naked, and the toes connected near their jundion by a portion of membrane. ' The bird is nearly as large as a capon ; its total length about two feet ; that of its bill five or fix inches ; its alar extent more than three feet* • Belon. f Gefner. He gives the fame derivation of the Italian Arcafi* X fielon. C % Its ? m rit 1'" ■!I 1^: '•'I! iPilil M' 1 it ; n .'is ll to CURLEWS. Its whole plumage is a mixture of light gray, except the belly and rump, which are entirely white; dafhes of brown are interfperfed over all the upper parts, and each feather is fringed with light gray or rufty -, the great quills of the wing are of a blackilh brown * ; the feathers of the back have a filky glofs 5 thofe of the neck are downy, and thofe of the tail, which fcarce extends beyond the wings, are, as well as the middle ones of the wing, interfedted with white and blackifli brown. There is little difference between the male and the female -j-, which is only fomewhat fmaller J ; and therefore the par- ticular defcription which Linnaeus has given of it § is fuperHuous. Some naturalifts have aflerted, that the flefh of the Curlew has a marfliy tafte ; but it is much prized, and ranked by feveral with that of the water fowls ||. The Curlew lives on earth- worms, infedts, periwinkles, &c. which it ga- thers on the fea-beach, or in the marfhes and \ et meadows ^ : its tongue is very fhort, and • On account of the mottled plumage of the Curlews, Schwenck- feld terms them pan/ales; but unfortunately for the refinements of nomenclature, that name would rigoroufly exclude more thap half of the fpecies of Curlews. f Belon. t Willughby. § Numenius Rudheckii. Fauna Suecica, N* 139. Ij Willughby and Bclon. ^ Idem, Willughby fays, that he once found a frog in Its fto- mach. 8 concealed I f ^« CURLEWS. 21 concealed at the bottom of the bill. Small pebbles *, and fometimes grain -f-, are found in its ftomach, which is mufcular like that of the granivorous birds J. The cefophagus is ii ited like a bag, and overfpread with glandulous pa^ fiilee §. There are two ce^ca of three or four fingers length ||. Thefe birds run very fwiftly ^, and fly in flocks : they are migratory in France, and hardly flop in the interior provinces j but they refide in the maritime diftricfts, as in Poitou **, Aunis, and in Brittany along the Loire, where they breed -f f . It is affirmed, that in England they inhabit the coafl:s only in winter, and that in fummer they retire to neftle in the upland country JJ. In Germany they arrive in rainy weather when the wind is in a certain quarter ; for the dijfferent names there applied to them allude to torrents, or tempefts. They are feen alio in Silefia about autumn l|||, and they advance * Gefncf. t Albin. i Willughby. § Idem. t II Mm. ^ Hence probably Hefychius has crroneoufly applied the name trochilus to the Curlew, which belongs to the gold-creftecl wren. Clearchus indeed mentions a trochilus, which muft be cither the courier, or fome of the fmall dunlins or collared plovers, which frequent the (hores and run with fpeed. ** In Poitou thoufands are feen entirely gray. Saler»e, ■f-f Idem. XX Britifli Zoology, ^nd Borlafe's Nat. Hiji. of Cornivall, 11 II Schwenckfeld. ' m 22 CURLEWS. m-' r ' !; i- r in Aimmer as far as the fialtic fea*, and the gulph of Bothnia -f*. They are found too in Italy and in Greece ; and it appears that their migrations extend beyond the Mediterranean, for they pafs Malta twice a year, in the fpring and autumn J. Voyagers have difcovered Cur- lews in almoft every part of the world § ; and though their accounts refer for the moft part to different foreign branches of this family, it appears the European kind occurs at Senegal ||, and in Madagafcar, fince the bird reprefentcd, • Klein. f Fauna Suecica. Brimnlch. Ornith. Boreal. X Obfervation communicated by the Commander Defmazy. % Curlews are found in New Holland and in New Zealand. Ccok. — Numerous in the falt-marfties of Tinian. jinjon.'— In Chili. Frezier.'—ln an excurfion on Statcnland, we took new {pe- des of birds, among others a handfome gray curlew ; its neck was yellowilh ; it was one of the moil beautiful birds we had ever ieen. Forjier.'—ln the ifle of May (oi\e of the Cape de Verd Iflands) we found curlews. Rcberts .-^Thxi country of Napal breeds different forts of birds . . . great numbers of ducks . . . Others are very much like our curlews, their flefh hard, but good to eat, Dam}iier.— 'In the bay of Campeachy there are ducks, curlews, pelicans. Sec. /dV;*.— There are two forts of curlews, that diiFer in bulk as well as in colour ; the largeft are equal to turkey-cocks ; (this feems exaggerated) their legs are long, and their bill hook- ed ; they are of a dull colour j their wings are mixed with black and white; their fieih is black, but very good and wholefome. The Englifli call them (/oul>le curletopus. Lath. ;i..i| ■li :iii :i!|il: %. .'ill ^TpHE Whimbrel is one half left tLm tha •^ common curlew, which it refembles in its form, in the ground of its colours, and even in their diftribution j it has alfo the fame habits and mode of life. Yet they are two diftin(ft fpecics ; for, befides their great inequality of bulk, they never aiTociate together. The Whim- brel feems in particular to be attached to Eng- land, where, according to the authors of the Britifli Zoology, it is more fl-equ-jnt than the curlews -f*. On the contrary, it is very rare in the provinces of France, and is probably not more common in Italy -, for Aldrovandus gives • In Italian 'tarangoht or Taraniolo : in Danilh Melhm-Spove : in Norwegian Smaae Spue. f This is a miilake j Mr. Pennant fays direflly the reverfe •* The Wnimbrel is much Iq^s frequent on our ihores than the « curlew."— T. but JVm THE. AVHl^mKJil^ '!lr "I-; *.li :V Mil ( 'U W H I M B R E L. ^s but a confufed account of it from Gefner, and copies the miftake of that naturalift, who in- troduces the Whimbrel twice among the aqua- tic birds, under the different names phceopus and gallinula, Willughby firft noticed this over- light of Gefner's. The little ibis defcribed by Edwards, is undoubtedly a Whimbrel, only its plumage is altered by moulting, as that natura- Jiil remarks *. * Mr. Edwards' litth ibis is certainly a Wlilmbrel, only It was in moult. The bird torea of the Society Ifles, called in Cook's Voyage a little curlew, feems not to belong to that family, fince it is faid to be found about Jhips, i < [A] Specific charafter of the Whimbrel, Scoiopax-Pbtcofus : *' Its bill is arched, its feet blueifh, brown rhomboidal (pets on its back.'* Its weight exceeds not twelve ounces* C 26 ] The GREEN, or ITALIAN CURLEW. $'■ ■;'! THIRD SPECIES, Tantalus-FaUinellus. Lir.n. and Gmel. Nttmeniui Viridis, BrifT. Numenius Subaquilus. Klein. Falcinellus. Gefn. Johnft. Will. The Scjthe Bill. Ray. The Bay Ibis. Penn. and Lath, lit' ! ;HI 'T^ H I s is nearly as large as a heron, according ■*' to Aldrovandus, and among the Italians it has fometimes that name. The appellation falcinellus, which that naturalifl and Gefner feem to have beflowed only on this fpecies^ might be extended to all the other curlews, which have their bills equally hook-fhaped. In the prefent, the head, the neck, the fore part of the body, and the fides of the back, are of a fine deep chefnut ; the upper fide of the back, of the wings, and of the tail, are green glofl!ed with gold or bronze, according to pofi- tion with regard to the light ; the bill is black- ifh, as well as the feet and the naked part of the leg. Gefner defcribes only a yellow bird, which had not attained its fize or its colours. This civlew« GREEN CURLEW. a; curlew, which is common in Italy, occurs too in Germany * ; and the Danube curlew of Marfigli, cited by Briflbn, is apparently a va- riety of the fame fpecies. * According to Gefner, It is called in German Welfcher-Vogel, (Italian bird) ; Sichler (fickfer) j Sagifer (fawyer.) [A] Specific charafter of the 7*/jwM/»f-/'rt/aW/Kf .• " Its face is black, its feet blue, its wings and tail violet, its body chef* jiut." :1:; III in- !•!' ■ r m rll'i' I i J' !k,ii( i| ill. Mill !»: [ 28 J The BROWN CURLEW. FOURTH SPECIES. Tantalus Mattillenjis, Gtnel, The Manilla Ibis. Lath. s ONNER AT found this Curlew in the iflc of Lu9on, one of the Philippines. It is as large as the common European curlew : all its plumage is rufous brown ; its eyes are encirclecj with a greenilh ikin 5 its iris flame-coloured ; its bill greenish ; and its feet of a lacker- red. '= ! C 29 3 W. The SPOTTED CURLEW. FIFTH SPECIES, Scolofax Luzottienjis. Gmel. 7he Luxonian Curlew, Lath* iflc of is as all its ircle4 bred; cker- THIS Curlew alfo is found in the ille of Lu^on. It too refembles the European kind, only is one-third fmaller. It is diftin- guifhed belides, becaufe the crown of its head is black, and its colours differently diftributed; they are fcattered on the back in flreaks on the edge of the feathers, and on the belly in waves or tranfverfe breaks. [ 3" ] The B A L D CURLEW. I Le Courlis *a Tete nue. Buff, I ■1 I i ■ I i,', \i : SIXTH SPECIES. Tantalus Calvuu Gmel. The Bnl4 Uis. Lath, ^T^ HIS fpecies of Curlew is new and very iingular : its whole head is naked, and or^ the top is a fort of roll five lines thick, flattened back, and covered by a very red and thin fjtin, immediately under which we perceive a bony protuberance ; the bill is of the fame red with this crown ^ the top of the neck and the fore part of the throat are alfo bare of feathers i and the jfkin is, no doubt, vermilion in the living fuljedl, but was livid in the dried fpecimen which we defcribe, and which was brought from the Cape of Good Hope by M. de la Fert^. It has entirely the form of the Euro- pean curlews, only ftronger and thicker; the ground of its plumage is black, and on the fea- thers of the wings there is a varying green and purple glofs; the fmall coverts of the wings are of a deep purple violet, but lighter on the back. m ill! BALD CURLEW. 3K back, the neck, and the under fide of the body ; the feet and the naked part of the leg, for the fpace of an inch, are red like the bill, which is four inches and nine lines long. This Curlew, meafured from the point of the bill to the ex- tremity of the tail, is two feet and an inch, and in its natural attitude it is a foot and an half tall. ■f 4'\ i;, l!' i i; ' ;i .1 :,-ii tl'l ' !' Ill' tbi i. 'l! I , "I; II iiiii f 32 J The CRESTED CURLEW. SEVENTH SPECIES. Tantalus Crijiatus, Gmel. The Crejied Ibis. Lath. 'T^HE creft diftinguifhes this Curlew from all ^ the reft, in which the head is more or lefs fmooth, or covered with very fhort little feathers ; this, on the contrary, has a fine tuft of long feathers, partly white and partly green, which fall back ; the fore- fide of the head, and the compafs of the top of the neck, are green ; the reft of the neck, the back, and the fore-part of the body, are of a fine chefnut rufous ; the wings are white; the bill and feet are yellowifh; 2 broad portion of naked fkin furrounds the eyes J the neck, which is well clothed with feathers, is not fo long or flender as in the other curlews. This beautiful bird is found in Madagafcar. Thefe feven fpecies of Curlews belong all to the ancient continent ; there are eight which inhabit the new. [ 33 ] CURLEWS of wiie New Continent. The RED CURLEW*. FIRST SPECIES. Tantalus Ruber. Linn, and Gmel. Numenius Brajilienjis Coccineus. BrifT. Guara Brajilienjibus. Marcg. Will. Johnil. &C. Avis Porphyria Amhoinenjis. Seba. Numenius Ruber. Klein. The Scarlet Ibis. Lath, and Penn. ^T^ H E low flimy grounds contiguous to the fea, and the great rivers of South America, are inhabited by many fpecies of Curlews : the moft beautiful of thefe, and the moft common in Guyana, is the prefent : all its plumage is fcarlet, except the tip of the iirfl quills of the wing, which is black ; the feet, the naked part of the legs, and the bill, are red or reddifh -f*, and alio the bare fkin that covers the fore part of ♦ BufFbn and Catefby. f This colour of the bill may vary. Marcgrave fays, that It is ciftereeus-ivhite : Clufius, that it is ochry-yellovt. VOL. VIII. D the *.! '■ v\\\ : * r'i m SElii I'll ! ,;" ;i /.] .r„ii =•! 1 id- li-i '!i4 ■hii 34 RED CURLEW. the head, from the origin of the bill to beyond the eyes. This Curlew is large, but not fo thick as the European ; its legs are taller, and its bill longer and ftronger, and much thicker near the head. The female has its plumage of a fainter red than the male*, and neither of them acquires that beautiful colour till the pro- per age \ for at firft they are covered with a blackifh down -f-, then cinereous, and afterwards ■white, when they begin to fly J, fo that the fine red is introduced b)' fucceflive gradations, does not appear before tlic fecond or third year, and turns brighter as the bird grows older. Thefe birds keep together in flocks, whether they fly or perch on trees, where their number and their flame -coloured plumage render them confpicuous objects §. Their motion through the ail' is fleady and even rapid, but is per- formed only in the morning and evening j dur- ing the heat of the day they enter the creeks, and enjoy the cool fliade of the mangroves .; at three or four o'clock they return to the mud, which they again quit to pafs the night under the branches and foliage. Seldom one of thefe Curlews is feen alone, or if one fhould happen * Cate(by. f Marcgrave. ' ' j J De Laet. § " The guaras fly in flocks, and their fcarlet plumage forms " a very beautiful fpeftacle in the beams of the fun." Hifi, Gea. dts Foy, tom. xiv. p. 304. •r'; . .,..10 'n I '4 ntir *; RED CURLEW. 35 to 'I "V I ■f to ftray from the flock, it haftens to join its companions. But thefe focieties are diltinguifh- ed by their age, the old birds Jteeping feparate from the young. Their hatches begin in Ja- nuary and end in May; they lay their eggs, \/hich are greenifh, in the large plants that grow under the mangroves, or amidft the bram- bles, on fome flicks colledled. The young ones may eafily be caught by the hand, even when the mother leads them out to fearch for infedls and fmall crabs, which are their principal food : they are not wild, and they foon become recon- ciled to the domeftic ftate. ** I reared one," fays M. de la Borde, ** which I have kept up- « wards of two years j it fed out of my hand " very familiarly, and never miffed the time of " dinner and fupper : it ate bread, flefh either <* raw, drefled, or falted, lifh, every thing in fhort " was acceptible ; it (ho wed however a pre- ** ference to fowls' and fifhes' guts, and with that ** view it frequently paid a viiit to the kitchen. " At other times it was conftantly employed " feeking earth-worms, either round the houfe ** or in the garden belide the negro who was at " work on the ground. In the evening it re- " tired of its own accord into a hcn-houfe, where ** it repofed with an hundred fowls : it roofted " on tlic higheft bar, and with violent ftrokes of " its bill drove off all the hens that had occu- " pied its place; and often during the night it " took pleafure in annoying its fellow -lodgers. D 2 « It I 1 n tit ^' t':. i:l '.: 11 'ii ,11 '1 "■ 111! li.. ,; RED CURLEW. <( « « « « « It was rouzed early in the morning, and be- gan by making three or four circuits round ** the houfe ; fometimes it went to the fea- " (here, but did not flop there. I never heard " it utter any cry except a little croaking, which ** feemed to be an exprclfion of fear at the fight of a dog or other animal. It had a great anti- pathy to cats, but did not fear them ; ran fierce and undaunted upon them. It was killed near the houfe in a bog by a fportfman, who took " it for a wild curlew." This account given by M. de la Borde, cor- refppnds with that of Laet ; who adds, that he has feen fome of thcfe birds copulate and breed in the ilate of domeftication. We prefume, therefore, that it would be equally eafy and agree- able to rear and propagate this beautiful fpecies, which would be an ornament to our court- yards *, and add perhaps to the pleafures of the table ; for its flefli, which is already tolerably pleafant, might be improved, and might lofe its flight marfhy tafte -f* : befides, living on the joflfals and garbage of the kitchen, it would coft little for maintenance. — We know not whether, • At the time that I wrote this, there was a Red Curlew living in the menagerie of his Royal Highnefs the Prince of Conde, at Chantilly. f " It is eaten in ragouts, and makes tolerable fauce ; but it •* muft be previoufly half-roafted to difcharge part of its oil, " which has a brackifli tafte.'* Note given iy a coloniji of Cayenne,'-^ ** The fleih of the curlew is a difh much efteQzned.'' Bffaj m tht Natural Hiflory of Guiana, p. 172. ' as RED CURLEW. 37 as Marcgravc fays, this Curlew foaks previoufly in water whatever it eats. In the ftate of nature, thefc birds live on fifh, ihell-fifh, and infcdts, which they find in the flime at ebb-tide. They never go very far from the fea-coaft, nor advance up the rivers to a confiderable diftance from their mouths. They refide through the whole year in the fame dif- tridt, only fhifting from one part to another. The fpecies is however diffufed through moft of the hot countries of America *. It is found at the mouths of the Rio-Janeiro-ff of the Ma^ ragnon, &c, in the Bahama Iflands J, and in the Antilles §. The Indians of Brazil, who are fond of decking themfelves with their beautiful feathers, call thefe Curlews by the name of guar a ||. The appellation y?^/«w/7w/, which they receive in Cayenne, refers to the flame-colour of their plumage ; and the colonifts have very im- properly beftowed the fame term on all the cur- lews. With equal inaccuracy the voyager Cauche confounds with it his violet Madagafcar Curlew f , as * Catefby. f .Marcgrave, \ Catelby. § Sloane. II Barrere. ^ " The herons of this country (Madagafcar) have large thick « bills, which bend gradually downwards after the fafhion of a « Poliih cutlafs ; their feathers are violet ; the wings terminate ** with the tail ; their thighs, as far as the knot of the leg, are co> ** vered with little feathers ; their legs long and waihed with gray x 38 RED CURLEW. " the chicken is black, and as it grows it turns cinereous, then «' white, then red, and at laft columbine, or light violet : it lives on ** fifh. There are flmilar birds in Brazil called guara ; the figure ** occurs in Marcgravius." Feyage a Madagafcar l^ au Brejilt par Franc. Cauche, Pam 1651. p. 133, ,, . [A] Specific charadler of the Tantalus Ruber: *« Its bill, its ** face, and its feet, are red; its body blood-coloured; the tips of ** its wings black." / < , •>! \ I 39 ] The WHITE CURLEW*. SECOND SPECIES. Tantalus Jlbus. Gmel. Scolopax Alba. Linn. Numenius Albus. Klein. Numenius Brafilienfis Candidus. BrifT. The White Ibis. Penn. and Lath. '117' E might reckon this a red curlew having ^ ^ . its firft colour ; but Catelby, who knew both, conceives it to be a different fpecies. It is larger; its feet, its bill, its orbits, and the forefide of its head, are of a pale red ; all the plumage is white, except the four firft quills of the wing, which, at their extremity, arc of a dull green. Qreat numbers of thefe birds arrive in Carolina about the middle of September, which is the rainy feafon ; they frequent the low marfhy grounds, where they remain about fix weeks, and then difappear ; retiring probably to the fouth, to breed in a warmer climate. Catefby fays, that he found clufters of eggs in many fe-. males fhortly before their departure from Caro- lina. They differ not from the males in regard te colours ; both of them have their fiefh and fet yellow, like the pheafant. * BufTon and Catefby, D4 ^ ■ t 49 ] The RED-FRONTED BROWN CURLEW. * THIRD SPECIES. Tantalus Fufcus. GmeK Scolopax Fufca. Linn. Numenius Brajilienfis Fufcus. Briff. and Klein. Arquata Cinerea. Barrere. The Br(ywn Curlew. Cateiby. The Brown Ibis. Penn. and Lath. «,: ■!. ^Tp H E s E Brown Curlews arrive in Carolina with the white curlews, and intermingled with their flocks. They are of the fame fize, but fewer, " there being twenty white curlews,'* fays Catefby, " to one brown.'' They arc entirely brown on the back, the wings, and the tail; brown-gray on the head and the neck ; and all wnite on the rump and the belly : the fore part of the head is bald, and covered with a pale red fkin ; and the bill and feet are alfo of that colour. Like the white curie vvs, they have yellow flefh and fat. Both fpecies arrive and depart toge- ther 5 they pafs in winter from Carolina to the more fouthern climates, fiich as Guyana, where they are termed the gray fiammants.^ I 4« ] The WOOD CURLEW. Le Courlis des Bois. Buff. FOURTH SPECIES. r Tantalus Cayamnfis. Gmel, > The Cayenne Ibis. Lath. 'np HIS fpecies, which the fettlers at Cayenne denominate the wood Jiammant , lives in the forefts beficle the brooks and rivers, and far from the fea - coaft, vi^hich the other curlews feU dom ever leave. Its habits too are different; it D^ 7er goes in flocks, but only in company with its ' . 'i ie. It fiQies, fitting on wood that floats in the water. It is not larger than the green curlew of Europe, but its cry is much flronger. Over its whole plumage is fpread a very deep green tint, on a dull brown ground, which at a diflance appears black, and viewed near exhibits rich blueifh or grcenifli refledions : the wings and the top of the neck have the colour and luftre of polifhed fteel j on the back are bronze reflec- tions, and on the belly and the lower part of the neck a purple glofs : the cheeks are bare of feathers. Brillon takes no notice of this fpecies, though Barrire has mentioned it twice under the appellations of arqtuita vlrUis Jyhatka, and fianimant des bois, ^ [A] Specific charaftcr of the Tantalus Cayanenjh : " Its face is « dull reddilh, its bill obfcuie ; its body black, with a green glofs.'* ti..;- « 'M ^'^r C 42 ] lir. ijv M I i illi h I'' |,.. I J' * >■'■' The G U A R O N A. FIFTH SPECIES. Seolopax-Guarauna. Linn, and Gmel. Numenius Americamis Fu/cus. BrifT. Numenius-Guarauna. Lath. Ind. Cuarauna. Pifon. Marcg. Johnft. Ray. and Will, 7>&* Brafilian Whimbrel. Lath. Syn. /^ VA R A, we have feen, is the Brazilian ^^ name of the red curlew. Guarana or Gua- rona is beftowed on this fpecies, whofe plumage is chefnut-brown, with green refle(5tions on the rump, on the fhoulders, and on the outer edge of the quills of the wingj the head and neck are variegated with fmall longitudinal whitifh lines on a brown ground. This bird is two feet long from the bill to the nails * : it bears a great refemblance to the green curlew of Eu- rope, and appears to be the reprefentative of that fpecies in the new world. Its flefh is to- lerably good, according to Marcgrave, who fays that he often ate of it. It occurs both in Bra^ zil and in Guyana. ; mm ■ ■jt'i . C'l- '■til ' • Marcgrave fays, that it is of the bulk of the iacu ; but the yacou is fcarcely fo large as an ordinary hen, a fize which exactly correfponds to a curlew. [A] Specific charafter of the Seolopax-Guarauna : *' Its bill is ** arched and yellowifh ; its feet brown ; its head brown ftripecl « with white." I. C 43 3 n The A C A L O T. SIXTH SPECIES. Tantalus Mexicanus, Gmel. ""' NuKtenius Mexicanus Variut. BriflT. Corvus Acfuaticus. Nieremb. Fernand. Will. &c< The Mexican Ibis, Lath. "1X7 E abridge the name acacalotl, beftowed oii ^ ^ this curlew in Mexico, into Acalot : it is indigenous in that country; and, like moft of the reft, its front is bald and covered with a reddifli ikin : its bill is blue ; the neck and back of the head clothed with feathers, which are brown in- termixed with white and green ; the wings fliine with green and purple reflections. And thefe charadiers have probably induced Briflbn to de- nominate it the variegated curlew ; but it is ealy to fee, from the appellation of water raven given by Fernandez and Nieremberg, that thefe co- lours are laid on a dark ground approaching to black. Adanfon, remarking that this bird dif- fers from the European curlews in having its front bald, ranges it, on account of that property, with the ibis, the guara, and the curicaca, of which he makes a diftinct genus. But the charafter by which he difcriminates it from the curlews is !i I. I Si'ii;, •^1 III It 44 A C A L O T. curlews appears infufficient ; iince it has in other refpeds a fimilar form, and that difference is in- troduced by fucceffive gradations, infomuch that fome fpecies, the green curlews for inftance, have only a bare fpace round the eyes, while others, fuch as the prefent Acalot, are naked on a great part of the front. We have feparated the curicaca from the curlews, on account of its magnitude and fome other eifential diiferences, particularly the fhape of its bill. — We do not underftand why this learned naturalift claffed thefe birds with the lapwings *. • !U '» •• tVi * See Supplement to the Encyclopedie; article AcacaJotL tj. ■::n «u- '/•* ' ' C 45 ] The SHORE MATUITUI. Le Matuitui des Rivaoes. Buff. S E 5 i, ' H S P E C I i .S. Tantalus Grifeus. Gmel. Numenius Americanus Minor. BnfT. Matuitui. Pifon. Marcg. Will. Johnft. &c. , .^• 1 n I F we were better acquainted with this bird, we fhould perhaps feparate it, as well as the curicaca, from the curlews ; fince Marcgrave and Pifon fay that it is like the curicaca, though on a fmaller fcale, which is disjoined from the cur- lews, both by its bulk and the chara(fler of its bill ; and till that character be known we cannot affign its rank. We may obferve, however, that the appellation of little curlew given by BrifTon is improper, for it is nearly as large as a hen, and therefore of the firft magnitude in the ge- nus of curlews. — This Shore Matuitui differs from the other little matuitui mentioned by Marcgrave in another place, which is hardly larger than a lark, and appears to be a little ringed plover. IM ft I H U [i'l yi^ C 46 ] The GREAT CURLEW of CAYENNE. EIGHTH SPECIES. Tantalus AlbicolUs, Ginel. The White-necked Ibis. Latfi. I ■ - ' ■ ' ' ,'; - ' ■■■'■■ i • Tt is larger than the European curlew, and feems to be the greateft of all the curlews. The whole of its upper furface, the great quills of its wings, and the fore fide of its body, is brown, waved with gray and glofTed with green ; the neck is rufty white, and the great coverts of the wing are white. This defcription fuffices to diftlnguirti it from the reft of the cur- lews. ., .:. . ■ ^ t i .J "»-•.»■ «i.»v* ;-. ill t id s. Is is es 1^ f'l I' '^ > f I i i ■ jif' ■''«'. li ti;. ..;J!| ^/P^ THE liAVWING. , [ 47 ] The LAPWING. Le Vanneait. Buff\ FIRST SPECIES. Tringa-yanellits. Linn, and Gmel. Capella. Gefner. Vanellus. Aldrov. Ray, Will. Johnft. Sibb, &c. Gavia Vulgaris. Klein. The Lap'wing, Bayard Plover, or Pevjit. Alb. Will. Penn, and Lath. ^X^ HE* appellation of this bird, in modern Latin, in French, and in Englifh, alludes to the inceflant flapping of its wings. The Greeks, befides giving it other names expreffive of its cry, denominated it t^e wi/d peacock (Taug ccy^ios), on account of its creft and its elegant colours : yet this creft is very different from • The Greeks applied to this bird the name of goat, At|,and Aiyu, on account of its cry: in modern Latin it is for the fame reafon termed Capella ; the term Fanellus, from Fannus, a fan, was given it becaufe of the frequent and noify flapping of its wings : and hence too the Fxcnch name Fanneau, and the Englifli Lapwing. In German it is called Kiuyit and Himmel-Gei/s (Jky-goat) : in Swifs Gyfitx, Gy-witz, Blatu Gruner Gyfitx : in Dutch Ke Kivit : in Turkifti Gulguruk : in Italian Paonzello, or Pavonzino^ (i. e. little peacock) : in many of the French provinces it is termed dix-huit, pi'vite, kivite : in fome parts of England it has the appel- lation peivit : and all thefe names, and many others alfo, have nearly the fame found, andare evident imitations of the bird's zry,pe'w-eet, that V fr\ *:'' 'i i ' hli !• hi :|ii iii>i I ill "1 ;? 48 LAPWING. tiiat of the peacock, it confining only of fomc long un webbed and very flender feathers; and of its plumage, the under fide is white, the upper of a dark caft, and it is only when held clofe to the eye that we can perceive the brilliant gold refledions. In fomc parts of France, the Lap- win?^ has the denomination of dix^buit (eigh- teen) bccaufe thefe two fyllables, pronounced fliintly, cxprefs, with tolerable accuracy, its cry. which many languages have endeavoured to de- note by imitative founds *. In riling up it vents one or two fcreams, which it often repeats at intervals as it flies, even during the night -f* : its wings are powerful, and much exercifed ; for in the air it long maintains its flight, and riles to ?. great height, and on the ground it fprings and bounds, and fkims from fpot to fpot. The Lapwing is joyous, and perpetually in motion ; it iports and frolics a thoufand ways in the air ; it allumes, at times, every imaginable pjfbure, its belly' fometimes even turned upwards or fidewife, and its wings expanded perpendi- cnluly ; and no bird wheels and flickers fo nimbly. The Lapwings arrive in our meadows in great flocks about the beginning of March, or even as early as the end of February, after the firfl open weather, when the wind is foutherly. At this • G))fyiz, Ginvitz, K:xv:tz, Czieik, SiC. f It imitates the Lroinulo'js voice of a goat, wlule it flies in thd night-time. RzacjKjli. feafon LAPWING. 49 fcafon they alight in the fields of green corn *, or in the morning cover the low marfhy grounds in feaich of worms, which they dextroufly draw from their holes : when the bird meets with one of thofe little cluilers of pellets, or rolls of earth, which are thrown out by the worm's perfora- tions, it firft gently removes the mould from the mouth of the hole, ftrikes the ground at the fide with its foot, and ileadily and attentively waits the iiTuej the reptile, alarmed by the fliock emerges from its retreat, and is inftantly feized -f*. In the evening the Lapwings purfue a different plan; they run along the grafs, and feel under their feet the worms, which now come forth, invited by the coolnefs of the air : thus they obtain :% plentiful meal, and afterwards they wafli their bill and feet in the fmall pools or rivulets^ Thefe birds are difficult to be approached, and feem to defcry the fowler at a great dif- tance: we can gain nearer them in a Arong wind, for then they fly witli difficulty. When they are congregated and ready to rife together, they all flap their wings with an ec*:?-!! motion > and as they keep clofe to each othtr, and their !.,■ i '■rM\ u €€ • ( fr •( • BeIon,Nat. desOifeaux, liv. iv. 17. f «' To afcertaih this clrcumftance," fa/ s M . Baillon, " I empbycd the feme ftratagem : in a iBeld of green corn, and in the garden, I beat the earth for a fhort time, and I faw the \vorms coming out ; I preiTed down a flake, which I then turned in all dirediuns to (hake the foil : this method, which is faid to be ufed by the cur- lews, facceeds ftill quicker ; the worms crawled oat in crowds, even at the diflance of a fathom from the Ikke.'* VOL. VIII, S under h-A |0 LAPWING. (■'■ iir) under fide is white, the ground, which was darkened by their numbers, appears at once white. But this great fociety, which thefe birds form on their arrival, diflblves when the vernal warmth invites to love, and in two or three days they difperfe. The fignal is given by battles between the males ; the females feem to avoid the contentions, and firft abandon the flock, as if unconcerned in the quarrels: but,"in fad:, they draw off the combatants to form a fweeter and more intimate union, which lafts three months. The hatch is condudled in April j it confiils of three or four oblong eggs, of a dull green, much fpotted with black : thefe are dropped in the marfhes, on the little heads or clods of earth raifed above the furface of the plain ; a precau- tion which feems necefl'ary to guard againft the accidental fwelling of the water, but which, however, leaves the neft expofed. To make a fite for it, they are contented with cropping, clofe to the furface, a little round fpace in the grafs, which foon withers about it, from the heat of incubation ; and if we find the grafs frefli and verdant, we may infer that the eggs have not been covered. It is faid, that thefe eggs are good to eat, and in many provinces great quan- tities are gathered f >'* market. But is it not an incroachment on the rights of nature, an inva- fion on her property, to deftroy thus the tender germs of fpecies which we cannot multiply I The LAPWING. 51 The eggs of domeflic poultry are in a manner our own creation, but thofe of independent birds belong only to the common mother of all. The incubation of the Lapwing, as in moll other birds, lafts twenty days : the female fits . afiiduoully 5 if any thing alarms it, and drives it from its neft, it runs a little way, cowering through the grafs, and does not rife till at a good diflance from its eggs, that it may not betray the fpot. The old hens, whofe nefts have been robbed, will not again breed expofed in the marfhes; they retire among the growing corn, and there in tranquillity make their fecond hatch : the young ones, lefs experienced, are not deterred by their lofs, and they rifk their neft a fecond, or even a third time in the fame place; but thefe after- layings never exceed one or two eggs. The young Lapwings, two or three days after being hatched, run among the grafs and follow their parents : thefe from folicitude often betray the little family, and difcover the retreat, as they flutter backwards and forwards over the fowler's head with cries of inquietude, which are aug- mented as he approaches the fpot where the brood had fquatted on the firft alarm. When puflied to extremity they betake themfelves to running, and it is difficult to catch them with- out the affiftance of a dog, for. they are as alert as partridges. At this age they are covered with £ 2 a blackifh ^' 1 -i.i 52 LAPWING. :■] 11::! I! ■l-V ! a blackilli down, fhaded under with long white hairs ; but in July they drop this garb, and ac- quire their beautiful plumage. The great aflbciation now begins to be re- newed : all the Lapwings of the fame marfli, young or old, aflemble ; thofe of the adjacent mar/hes join them, and in a fhort time, a body of five or fix hundred are colle(5led. They hover in the air, faunter in the meadows, and, after rain, they difperfe among the^ plowed fields. Thefe birds are reckoned inconftant, and in- deed they feldom remain above twenty-four hours in the fame trad: : but this volatility is occafioned by the fcantinefs of food; if the worms of a certain haunt be confumed in one day, the flock muft remove on the following. In the month of October the Lapwings are very fat, and this is the time when they live in greateft abun- dance; becaufe in this wetfeafon the worms fwarm on the furface j but the cold winds which blow about the end of the month conilrain them to retire into the earth, and thus oblige the Lap- wings to pafs into another climate. This is the general caufe of migration in the vermivorous birds. On the approach of winter, they advance towards the louth, where the rains are only be- gun, and, for a like reafon, they return in the fpring ; the excefiive heat and drynefs of the fummer in thofe latitudes having the fame ctfedt as great cold in confining the worms in the LAPWING. 53 the ground *. And that the time of migration is the fame throughout the whole of our hemi- fphere, is evinced by this circumflance, that at Kamtfchatka October is denominated the month of Lapwings '\'i which, as in our latitudes, is the time of their departure. Belon fays, that the Lapwing is known over the whole earth ; and the fpecies is indeed widely dif- perfed. We have juft mentioned their being found in the eaftern extremity of Afia ; they are met with alfo in the interior parts of that vaft region J, and they are feen in the whole of Eu- rope. In the end of winter, thcufands of them appear in pur provinces of Brie and Cham- pagne § , and great numbers are caught. Nets * M. Baillon, to whom we are Indebted for the bed details in this hiftory of the Lapwing, confirms our idea with refped to the caufe of the return of the Lapwing from fouth to north, by an obfervation which he made himfelf in the Antilles. " The ground," fays he, *' is, during fix montho of tlie year, extremely hard and parched in " the Antilles; not a fmgle drop of rain Jfaljls in the whole of that " time ; I have feen cracks in the v^illeys four inches broad, and feve- *' ral feet deep ; no worm can then live at the furface : accordingly, *' in the dry feafon, no vermivorous bird is obferved in thefe iflands ; " but on the firft days after the rains fet in, they arrive in fwarms, " and come, I fuppofc, from the low deluged lands on the eaftern " (hores of Florida, from the Bahamas, and a multitude of other " iflands, lying nortl) or north-weft from the Antilles : all thefe )ye.t " places are the cradle of the water-fowl of thefe iflands, and per- " haps of a part of the great continent Oi" America." •f- Pikis koatch ; pikis is the name of the bird. Gmelin. X " The Lapwings are very numerous in Perfia." Lettres Ed'tfi- antes, treniieme Recueil, p. 3 1 7. § " In this province, and particularly in the canton of Bafligny, -*' they are hunted at nighc with flambeaux ; the light wakes them, ♦* and, it is laid, attracts them." Note communkatCii by M. Pclitjean. E 3 are ,,■'.* *-: t|... "( \\;. 54 LAPWING. are fpread in a meadow, and a few flakes and one or two live Lapwings fet in the middle fpace to entice the birds ; or the fowler, concealed in his lodge, imitates their cry with a call made of fine bark j and the whole flock, thus betrayed, alight and are enfnared. Olina mentions the courfe of November as the time of the greatcfl captures ; and from his account it appears, that in Italy the Lapwings remain congregated the whole winter *. The flefh of the Lapwing is held in confider^ able eflimation -t*} yet thofe who have drawn the nice line of pious abflinence have, by way of favour, admitted it into the diet of mortification. This bird has a very mufcular flomachj lined with an inadhefive membrane, covered by the liver, and containing, as ufual, a few fmall peb- bles 5 the inteflinal tube is about two feet long ; it has two C(€ca direded forwards, each more than two inches long; a gall-bladder adhering to the liver and the duodenum : the liver is large, and divided into two lobes J ; the oejophagus about fix inches long, dilated into a bag before its infertionj the palate is rough with fmall flefhy points, which lie backwards ; the tongue • M. Hebert aflures us, that a few remain in Brie till the depth of winter. •j- It is much valued in fome of the provinces : in Lorraine there is an old proverb, ^i n*a pas mange de Fanneau, ne fait pas ce que gibkr r, 0) ,(• . n r 58 3 The SWISS LAPWING. SECOND SPECIES. Trhga Helvetica. Linn, and Gmel. Vanellus Helveticus, BrifT. Charadriut Hypomelus. Pallas. ^'he Swi/s Sandpiper. Penn. and Lath. ^T^ H I s is nearly as large as the common lap- **' wing ; all the upper fide of the body is va- < riegated tranfverfely with waves of white and brown ; the fore-part of the body is black or blackiifh ; the belly is white ; the great quills of the wings are black, and the tail is crofTed with bars like the back ; it might therefore derive its denomination of Swifs Lapwing from its parti- coloured garb ; which is perhaps as plaufible a fuppofition as that it received this name from its greater frequency in Switzerland *. BriiTon makes the ginochiella of Aldrovandus a third fpecies, under the appellation of the greater lapwing -f, which little belongs to that bird, • There is a very cogent reafon for doubting whether this bird be found at all in that country, fince fo intelligect an obferver as Gefner makes no mention of it, -f- Tringa Bononienfis. Linn, and Gmeh Specific charafter: "Its feet ochry, its head and neck bay, its *' body black above and white below ; its throat and bread marked «« with ferruginous fpots.'* fince SWISS LAPWING. 59 fince Aldrovandus's figure, which he fays is the natural fize, reprefents it as fmallcr than a com- mon lapwing. But it is difficult to decide on the reality of a fpecies from the fight of an im- perfedt figure j particularly as, unlefs the bill and feet be badly delineated, it cannot be a lap- wing ; we might rather clafs it with the great plover y or land curlew , of which we fhall fpeak at the clofe of the article of the plovers, if the difference of its fize had not oppofed this ar- rangement. Aldrovandus, in the fhort account which he fubjoins to his figure, fays, that its bill has a fharp point, a property which belongs equally to the plover and to the lapwing : fo that we (hall content ourfelves with juft men- tioning this bird, without venturing to decide its fpecies. [A] Specific charaftfr of the Tringa Helvetica: ** Its bill and «* feet are black, its under fide black, its vent white, its tail-quills «* wliite barred with black." This Lapwing is known alfo in the northern parts of the American continent, appearing in the fpring, and retiring in September : it there lives on berries, infeds, and worms. B?r !! r--> I % If: fc, 1 i-< m':: [ 60 ] The ARMED LAPWING of SENEGAL. ^ k ; 'AY. ■H' * I '* ' THIRD SPECIES, Ptirm Senrgalla. Linn, and Gmel. ranellus Senegaknfis Armatus, BrifT. T ring a Senegal la. Lath. Ind. ^ The Senegal Sand^iptr. Lath. Syn. THIS Senegal Lapwing is as large as the European; but its feet are very tall, and the naked part of its leg meafures twenty lines, and both that part and the feet are greenifh; the bill is fixteen lines long, and bears near the front a narrow membrane, very thin and yel- low, hanging down tapered to a point on each fide ; the fore part of the body is of the fame colour, but deeper ; the great quills of the wing black ; thofe next the body of a dirty white ; the tail is white in its firfl half, then black, and at Lift terminating in white. This bird is armed at the fold of the wing with a little horny fpur, two lines in length, and ending in a fliort point. We may recognize this fpecies in a pafTage of Adanfon's Voyage to Senegal, from a habit which belongs, as we have remarked, to the flmiily LAPWING or SENEGAL. 61 family of the Japwings ; t^at when a perfon ap- pears in their haunts, they flutter about him, and follow his fleps with importunate clamours. Thcfe armed lapwings are termed by the French fettlers, criers (criards) and by the negroes, net' net, " As foon as they perceive a man," fays Adanfon, " they fcream with all their force, ** and flutter round him, as if to pive intima- ** tion to the other birds, which, when they " hear the vociferation, make their efcape by ** flight: they fpoil, therefore, the fowler's ** fport." Our lapwings are peaceful, and never quariel with other birds ^ but nature, in be- ftowing on thofe of Senegal a fpur in the wing, feems to have accoutred them for bat- tle ; and they are accordingly faid to employ it as an ofFenfive weapon. ii" n t /.'M-> \: % w h I'* [ 6a 3 The ARMED LAPWING of the INDIES. i£ I ^jl: 1 '■;■ FOURTH SPECIES. Parr a Goenjts. Gmel* Tringa Goenjts, Lath. Ind. T'z&tf Go and hanging ** downwards, its wings armed.'* ■■■— \ IS K'1$ - ■»"V--_4V^«fH f «S ] !fl The ARMED LAPWING of CAYENNE. , -J SIXTH SPECIES, Parra Cayanenjis. Gmel. Tringa Cc^anenjis. Lath. Ind. The Cayenne Sandpiper, Lath. Syn. 'T^ HIS is at leaft as large as the common lapwing, and is taller; it is alio armed with a fpur on the (houlder. In its colours it refembles entirely the ordinary fpeciesj its fhoulder is covered with a mark of bluifh gray ; a mixture of that colour, with green and purple tints, is fpread on the back; the iieck is gray, but a broad black fpace occupies the bread ; the front and the throat are black j the tail is partly black, partly white, as in the Eu- ropean lapwing ; and, to complete the refem- blance, this Cayenne Lapwing has on the back of its head a fmall tuft of five or fix pretty fhort threads. It appears, that a fpecies of Armed Lapwing is found alfo in Chili * 5 and if the account given by Frezier be not exaggerated, it muft • Parra Chilcnfis. Qmtl VOL. VIII. F S! '1 ■ ■ fc' be 66 LAPWING. OF CAYENNE. be more ftrongly armed than the reft, iince its fpurs are an inch long: it is alfo clamorous^ like that of Senegal. " As foon as thefe birds ** fee a. man^" fays Frezier, they hover round " liim, and fcream, as if to warn the other " birds, which, at this fignal, fly away on all " fides." Pi; [ 6? ] The LAPWING-PLOVER. Trirtga Squatarola. Linn, and Gmel. Vanellus Gri/eus. Brifll Plwvialis Cinerea. Aldrov. Johnft. Ray and Charleton, Pardalus. Gefner. Plwvialis Cinerea Fla 1 I* ■ i >''< I 1 ' J , . . -V » r. ^; ■ t ■ f 1 .' ( t . > !•'•••• ;•:' :;4i ■^ryj': ri^- n'"i;:; -y. I \ V » ■1 ■.^< ,t>» The P L O V E R S. Les Pluviers. '&ufr. '"T^ H E fecial inftinulti- tudes are aflembled. Such in general are the companies of many water- fowls, and in particu- lar that of the Plovers. They appear in numerous bodies in the pror yinces of France during the autumnal rains, and from this circumftance they derive their name *. They frequent, like tl e lapwings, the wet bottoms and llimy grounus, where they iearch for worms and infecfls : they go into the water in the morning to wafli their bill and feet, which arc clotted with mud by their employ- ment J a habit which is common alfo to the woodcocks, the Lapwings, the curlews, and many has difunited by degrading them with fervhude ; were alfo natu- rally focial, and difplayed in the wild date, ennobled by fret* dom, thofe tender tokens of regard and afFeftion with wliich we behold them mutually foothe their flavcry. * From plifvia, rain. Gefner fuppofcs it to come from pulvis, dull ; which is much lefs probable, there being many other birds bcfKtcs Plovers that welter in dull. Other , , h-'.' ^M 74 PLOVERS. I*, other birds which feed on worms. They ilrikc the ground with their feet to elicit thele, and often I hey extradt them from their retreat *. Though the Plovers are ufually very fat, their inteflincs are found to be fo empty, that it hai been fappolcd that they could live on air ; but it is probable that the foft fubftance of the worms turns wholly into nourifliment, and leaves little excrement. They feem however capable ot fipporting a long abilinence : ^.^hwenckfcld fiys, that he kept one fourteen days, which duri ig the whole time only drank fomo water, and fwalicjwed a few grains of fand. Seldom (1) the Plovers remain more than twenty-four hours in the fime place : as they are very numerous:, they quickly confume the provifions which it affords, and are then obliged to remove i:o aiioiher pafiure. The firfl fnows compel thein to leave our climates, and feek milder regions : however, a confiderable num- ber of them remain in our maritime provinces -f* till the hard frods. They return in fpring {, and always in flocks ; a Angle Plover is never ' * Nc^e comvuinicateci by M. Ba'tUon, of Montnuil-fur-tner. + In Picardy, according tO M. Baillon, many of thefe birds continue in tl\e neighbourhood of Montreuil-fur-mer, till the in- tenfe froHs fct in. X The Chevalier Defmazy informs us, that they are feen to pafs Malta regularly twice a year, in fpring and in autumn, with a multitude of other birds which crofs the Mediterranean, and make that illand their place cfflation and rcpofc. , ... . * feen. PLOVERS. 75 feen, lays Longoliiis. And, according to Be- lon, their fmallcl'l companies amount at leall to fifty. When on the ground they never reft, but are incellantly engaged in tlie fcarch of food ; they are almoft perpetually in motion : fevcral keep watch while the reft of the flock are feed- ing, and on the leaft fymptom of danger they utter a fhrill fcream, which is the fignal of flight. On wing, they follow^ tl: wind, and maintain a pretty fingular arr;M -^^ment ; and thus advancing in front, they fo' in the air tranfverfe zones, very narrow and exceedingly long: fometimes there are leveral of thefe zones parallel, of fmall depth, but wide extended in crofs lines. When on the ground thcfc birds run much, and very fwiftly ; they continue in a flock the whole day, and only leparate to pafs the night : they difperfe in the evening to a certain haunt, where each repofes apart ; but at day-break, the one firft av/ake or the moft Vvatchful, which fowlers term the ca/kr, though perhaps it is the fentinel, founds the cry /jm\ hieuy bidty and in an inftant they obey the fummons and colledt to- gether. This is the time chofcn for catching them : a clap-net is ftretched before dawn fac- ing the place where they fleep j a number of fowlers encircle it,, and as foon as the call is heard, they thr chemfelves flat on the ground till the birds gather ; then they rife up, fliout, and throw their fticks into the air ; fo that the Plovers t\ il':: ■ '-I IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I ISO ^^ u 25 ■ 2.0 L25 IHM 111.6 I, Sciences Corporalion ^■*^ <^ v\ 23 VVKT IMAM STRUT VVIMTiR,N.Y. 14SM (71*)I72-4S03 '4^ ^ .-o^ > -^ PLOVERS. Plovers are frightened, and hurrying away with a low flight they ftrike againft tlie net, which drops upon them, and often the whole flock is taken. This plan is always attended with great fuccefe ', but a fingle bird-catcher can in a fimpler way enfnare confiderable numbers : he conceals himfelf behind his net, and attradts the birds by means of a call of bark. They are caught in abundance in the plains of Beauce and of Champagne. Though very common in Italy, they a^*e efi^emed excellent game : Belon fays, ithat in his time a Plover was fold often as dear as a hare; he adds, that they preferred the young ones, which he calls guillemots. The chafe of the Plovers, and their mode of living in that feafon, are almoft the whole we know of their natural hiftory. Tranfient guefts rather than inhabitants of our fields, they difap^ pear on the fnow's falling ; repafs without haltr ing in the fpring, and leave us when the other birds arrive. It would feem, that the gentle warmth of that feafon, which awakens the dor- mant faculties of the other birds, makes a con- trary im predion on the Plovers: they proceed to the more northern countries to breed, and re^r their young, for during the whole fummer we never fee them. Then they inhabit i^apland, and other parts of the north of Europe ♦, an4 • Set ^olleftlon Academi^ue, partie etrangere^ tome xi. ^tf? dmie de StocAkolm, p. 6o. probably .,i ' PLOVERS. 77 probably thofe of Afia. Their progrefs is the fame in America ; fince they are common to both continents, and are obferved in the fpring at Hudfon's Bay advancing farther north *. After arriving in flocks in thofe ardtic trad;s, they feparate into pairs ; and the more intimate union of love breaks, or rather fufpends for a time, the general fociety of friendfhip. Hence Klein, an inhabitant of Dantzick, remarks, that the Plovers live folitary in low grounds and meadows. The fpecies which in our climates appears as numerous at lead as that of the lapwing, is lefs diiFufed. According to Aldrovandus, fewer Plovers are caught in Italy than lapwings, and they are not found in Switzerland and other countries, where the lapwings are frequent. But perhaps the Plover, advancing farther to the north than the lapwing, gains as much terri- tory as it relinquifhes in the fouth. It feems alfo to have occupied a fpacious traft in the new world, which has afforded an ample range to many fpecies of birds, becaufe there the temperature is more uniform throughout, and the climates more obfcurely difcriminated. The Golden Plover may be regarded as the reprefentative of the whole family of Plovers; and what we have faid of their habits and ceco- nomy refer to it : but fpecies are included, which 7/e proceed to enumerate and defcribe. • Hift. Gen. des Voy. tern. xv. /. 267. li k 1 m h [♦'IM -IJi; «.,■. r 78 3 )': i IV 1 i k ;l The GOLDEN PLOVER, Le Pluvier Dore'. Bii^, F I R S r S P E C I E S. , Cbaradrius-PIti'vialis. Linn, and Gmel. Ga-via Viridis, Klein. Pluvialis Viridis. Ray. Will, and Sibbald. Plifvialis Aiirca. Briu. Piviev. Aldrov. Plwvialis Flavefcetis. Johnft. Pluvialis Fla-vo-Vire/cens. Charleton. * The Golden, or Green Pioz'cr. Penn. Lath. &c. np H E Golden Plover is as large as the turtle 5 its length from the bill to the tail, and alfo from the bill to the nails, is about ten inches : all the upper fide of the body is daflied with yel- low ftreaks, intermixed with light-gray, on a blackilli brown ground ; and thefe yellow flreaks are confpicuous in the dark field, and give the plumage a golden luflre. The fame colours, only more dilute, are i; '-mingled on the throat and breaft j the belly i ./hite, the Lill is black, • In German Plwvier, Piilrofa, See-taube (fea-pigeon), Gruner* kiivit (green pev/it) : in Italian Pivrero, Piviero Verde : in Polifli Ptak-deffexo^y : in Swedilh jiokevhoeiis : in Norwegian Akerloe : in Lapponic Hutti : in Catalonia it b called Dorada ; and in Sile- fia Brach-'vcgel, as m'' 2^jm w i i ^-':'M f '*■ iv. ''t -■■ vlK ill: TUB GOIillENPfiOVKR. ':U; 1 B if' r' 'fll- k as t # ^ In a the too «* whi( -■.■'•■♦ • whi( " . ■'* und( ' , ther plov i,r_ • pant 1 i' _ " T mag how r ' ' > ' accic , ■ fame ~ :'i' '-'i Golc » adtly 1 and gray ■ V 1 ■ • us tha , ^ • • .. f GOLDEN PLOVER. Tf as in all the plovers, ihqrt, rounded, and fwelled at the tip j the feet are bkckifh, and the outer toe is conne(5led as far as the firfl joint, by a fmall membrane, to the mid-toe ; the feet have only three toes, and theri is no veftige of a hind- toe or heel ; which property, joined to the in- flation of its bill, is regarded by ornithologifts as the difcriminating charadter of the plovers. In all of them, a part above the knee is bare ; the neck ftiort ; the eyes large j the head rather too bulky in proportion to the body : qualities which belong alfo to all the fco/opacious birds *, which fome naturalifts have ranged together under the denomination of pardaks -f* ; though there are many fpecies, particularly among the plovers, whofe plumage is not mottled like a panther or tiger. ^^ There is little difference between the plu- mage of the male and that of the female J : however, the varieties, whether individual or accidental, are very frequent; fo that in the fame feafon, out of five-and-twenty or thirty Golden Plovers, we fhall hardly find two ex- actly alike. They have more or lefs of yellow, and fometimes fo little of it as to appear quite gray §. A few have black fpots on the breaft, &c. • As the woodcocks, the fnipcs, the godwits, &c. f Klein, Schwenckfeld. . , ., j X Aldrovandus, Belon. § M. Baillon, who has obferved thcfe birds in Picardy, affures vs that their early plumage is gray ; that at their firft moult, in Auguift t. 'i '.'11 raine. . % . ,: * : - . \ Fauna Suecica. X Brunnich. -,.-■..■ „ . § Sloane. II Charadrius-Pluvialis, var, 2. GmeL Thus defcribed by Briffon : " Above, blackifh, variegated with *« yellowifti fpots ; below white ; the lower part of its neck and its « breaft dilute gray ; tlie edges of its quills yellowifh ; its tail-quills " brown, fpotted at the edges with yellowifh white." rica GOLDEN PLOVtiEt. 8i l:ic£l tliefe birds inhabit the favannas, and vifit the patches of fugar-cane which have been fet on fire; Their Hocks are numerous^ and can hardly be approached : they are migratory, and are feen in Cayenne only during the rainy feafonk M. Briiibn eftablifhes a fecond fpeCies, which he denominates the lejjer Golden Phver *, and as his authority^ cites Gefner> who never faw the I'lover himfelf. Schwenckfeld and Rzacynfki alfo mention this fmall fpecies^ and probably flill from Gefher^ for the former, though he applies to it the epithet ' little>' fays, at the fame time, that it is equal in bulk to the turtle s and the latter adds no particulars that imply that he obfervcd it diftin . I [A] Specific chara£^er ot the CvdUen ^lbv« , Charadrius- Piuvialis: ** Its body is fpotted with black and greeil; belo>^ «* whitifli ; its feet cinereous." It lays four eggs, about t^p inches long, iharper than thofe of the lapwing* of a pale olive» variegated with blackifh fpots. It is often found in the winter fea- ibh on our moors and heaths in (mall flocks^ ; : ; : j > 'm ■*. VOL. viii, .^' .1 V t . H ' [ 82 ] ^ 'V The ALWARGRIM PLOVER. Le Pluvier Dore^ ^a Gorge Noire, viv rv SECOND S J» M C 2 M 3, '> '■ = ^ '•■'•.-■•■'■ :j. .-•- - :.- ■ '■■-'>'!,': >i \'j\., '1! .1 ChMfatkriMt Apriearius, Linn, and GmeU , , . , * , PiuviaJir Aurta Freti-Hudfonis. BriC . , ,. Tht Hawk's'^tj^ottei Plovtr. Edw. and Bancr. ■ -^ * 'Tp H t s fpecies is often found with the prc- •*• ceding in the northern countries, where they live and propagate, but without intermix- ture. Edwards received this bird from Hud- fon's Bay, and Linnaeus metTwith it ki Sweden^ in Smoland, and in the wafte plains of Oeland-f* : it is the Pluvialis minor Nigro-favus J of Rud- beck. Its front is white, and a fmall white fillet, pafUng over the eyes and the fides of the neck, defcends before, and encircles a black fnark which covers the throat : the reft of the under furface of the body is black: all the mantle is dufky brown and blackifh, and fpeck- led pleafantly with a vivid yellow, which is dif- tributed by indented ipots on the margin of • /. e. Black-throated Golden Plover. f In Smoland it is called Mjrpitta, and in Oeland 'Alwargriti^ X I. e» The black-yellow leflcr plover. " each ALWARGRIM PLOVER. «3 each feather. This Plover is as large as the preceding. We know not why the Englifh fettlers at Hudfon's Bay give it the epithet of Hawk^s-eye ; whether by antiphrafis they allude to its weak eyes, or really fignify that its iight is fuperior to that of other birds of its kind. [A] Specific charaAer of the Alwargrim Plover, Charadriut JpricariHs : ** Its throat and belly are black ; its body dotted with '* brown, white, and yellow ; its feet cinereous.'? It appears in Greenland in the fpring, and lives on worms and heath-berries. In North America it breeds, and ipends the futnmer months in the northern dates. Its brilliancy has procured it the name QiHafwk*s» tyt in Hudfon's Bay. Its flelh is redcoaed delicious. i {.M, \ r\\ >,:, iiv s . ( r iki'v- '■ ' VI "r -:• :,. ■..'il'J [ '\.> :S-/ ■■■:'i. i. i " « 4; .-.:. .'/ 'U* C 2 .^ n t «♦ J « » .1, Ji Le Guignard. Buffi '■.-v.-, ■- * • tt I The D O T T E R EL. r m n D species. y ■ '. •11 ..1 Cbareulriiis-Moi'ineUus. Linn, and Gmel. Pluvialis Minor, Ji've Morhtellus, BrilH Morifiellus. Sibb. Charl. Will. 5:c. Morifiellus Angkrum, Gefner. np HIS bird is by fome called the little plo'ver. ^ It is indeed fmaller than the golden plover, not exceeding eight inches and a half in length : the ground of its upper furface is brown-gray with a green glofs ; every feather of the back, and alfo the middle ones of the bill, are border- ed with a rufous ftreak ; the upper part of the head is blackifh brown j the fides and the face are fpotted with gray and white ; fore part of the neck and the breaft are undated gray, rounded into a mark, under which, and near a black ftreak, there is a white zone, which is the diftinguifli- ing character of the male : the ftomach is ru- fous ; the belly black > and the abdomen white. The Dotterel is weM known for the excel- lence of it& Hefh, which is flill more delicate and juicy than that of the golden plover. The fpe- cies DOTTEREL. «5 fc^ cles feems to be more difperfed in the north than in our climates; and, beginning with England, it extends to Sweden and Lapland *, This bird has two annual Sittings, in April and in Augud ; in which it removes from the marches to the mountains, attradted by the black beetles, which are its chief fubfiftence, together with worms and fmall land cockles, which are found in its ftomach -f-. Willughby defcribes the me- thod of catching them pra(5tifed in the county of Norfolk, where they are numerous : five or fix fportfmen fet out together, and when they dif- cover the birds, they (Iretch a net at fome dif- tance beyond them ; then they advance foftly, throwing flones or bits of wood, and the indo- lent birds, thus roufed from their (leep, flretch out one wing or one foot, and can fcarce ilir : the fowlers believe that they mimic whatever they fee, and therefore endeavour to amufe them by extending their arm or their leg, and by this manoeuvre, apparently idle J!, to draw off their attention : but the Dotterels approach flowly * In the fixth edition of the Syjfema Nature, it is denominated Cbaradrius Lapponicus. f Letter of Dr. Lifter to Mr. Ray. Fhilofophical Tran/aStiontt N" 175. Art. 3. X An author, in Gefner, goes fo far as to fay, that this bird, at- tentive to the motions of the fowler, and delighted as it were, imi. tates all his geftures, and forgets its own prefervation, infomuch as to fufFer him to approach and cover it widi the net which be hoId$ |n his hand. See Aldrovandus, tom. iii. p. 540. Mi <^ 3 and n DOTTEREL. i i'.ri!! . i'i and with a fluggifh pace to the nei^ which drops and covers the flupid troop. This character of fluggiflmefs and flupidity has given Occafion to the Englifh name Dotterel, and alfo to the Latin appellation Morinellus*^ Klein fays, that its head is rounder than that of any of the plovers, which he reckons a mark of their duUnefs, from the analogy to the round heads of the breed called the foolijh pigeons^ Wil- lughby thought he could perceive, that the fe- males were rather larger than the males, with- out any other exterior difference. Widi regard to the fecond fpecies, which Briflbn reckons, of the Dotj^erel, under the name of the Englijh Dotterel, thbugh both birds in- habit England j we fhall ^onfider it as merely a variety. Albin reprefents it too fmall in his figure, iince in his defcription he affigns greafer weight and meafures than to the common Dot- terel ; indeed the chief difference confifls in this, that it wants the crofs bar below the breaft, and that the whole of that part, with the flo- mach and the fore fide of the neck, are light- gray wafhed with yellowifh. It appears to me therefore unneceiTary to multiply fpecies on fuch flight foundations, * Dotterel derived from the verb t9 dott, Moritfel/us (onatd from Msrio, a fool or jeftcr, [A] Specific character of the Dotterel, Charadrim-Morfnellut ^ " Its breaft ferruginous ; a white linear bar on its eye-brows and ^' breaft ; its feet black.'* ** Thefc birds," fiiys Mr. Pennant, «• arc '« foua4 \i DOTTEREL. 8; «( «( «( «« «f « « <( (( «< founa in Cambrldgefhire, Lincolnshire, and Derbynure. On Lincoln-heath, and on the moors of Derbyfhire, they are migra- tory, appearing there in fmall flocks of eight or ten only in the latter end of April, and ftay there all May and part of June, dur- ing which time they are very fat, and much efteemed for their delicate flavour. In the months of April and September they are taken in Wiltfliire and Berkftiire downs — At prefent, fportf- men Yratch the arrival of the Dotterels, and flioot tham ; the other method (that defcribed in the text) having been long dif- ufcd." .:»!>' i. ' .. . # * ' , - 1 '«.! ill V 'i .^, . G 4 r «8 J ;).; / The R I N G PLOVER, Le Pluvier ^a Collier, Buff, * FOURTH S f S C I E S. Cbaradriust feu Hiaticula f . Aid- Johnft. Sibb. TXT'E fliall divide this fpecies into two branch^ es J the firft is as large as a red-^wing J, the fecond nearly equal to a lark§. And the latter mqft be underflood to reprefent the Ring * /. e. the Collared Plover. f In Polifti Zoltofzek : in Swedifh Straad'Pipare, Grylle, Trulls ; in Lapponic Pago : at Bornholm Prcfjle-Kra've, Sani-Vrifter : in, ^rafilian Matuitui, X Charadrius Alexandrinus. Linn, and Gmel, Charadrius ^gyftius. Linn. Plwvialis Torquata, BriflT. Gavia Littoralis. Klein. The Alexundrint Plover, Lath. Specific charafter : «» It is brown ;^ its front, the collar on Its << back, and its bell/, white; its later^ tail-^uills pn both fidea f« bright white j its feet black,' - § Charadrius-Hiaticula, Linn, and Gmel. Plwvialis Torquata Minor. Brifl*. The Sea Lark. Alb. Will, and Sloane, The Ringed Plover, Penn. and Lath. Specific charafter : *' Its breaft brown, its front blackiih with j| « white rin^, its top brown, its feet jrellow^'* PlovQri 7^198 *!!' 1^1 THE RINGED Ti OVER. RING PLOVER, 8^ plover, as it is more difFufed and better known than the former, which is perhaps only a va- riety. ■'■'' ^^''' ■• * •'■^■'Zi.'^:ti]-y:r.: ';;.;:: v^;:r: , , ; -■■■ Their head is round, their bill very (hort, and thick feathered at the root ; the iirft half of the bill is white or yellow, and the tip is black ; the front is white ; the crown of the head has a black band, and a gray cap covers it ; this cap is edged with a black fillet, which rifes on the bill and pafles under the eyes ; the collar is white j the mantle is brown gray j the quills of the wmg are black ; the under fide of the body is a fine white, and alfo the front and the collar. Such is in general the plumage of the Ring Plover ; but to defcribe all the diverfities in the diflribution and intenfity of the colours were endlefs. Yet notwithflanding thefe local or in- dividual differences, the bird is the fame in aU mofl all climates. It is brought from the Cape of Good Hope, from the Philippines*, from Louifiaha, and from Cayenne -f*. Captain Cook found it in the firaits of Magellan J, and Ellis, at Hudfon's Bay §. It is the fame with what Marcgrave calls the f^atuitui of Brazil. Wil- lughby makes that remark, and exprefTes his * Sonnerat. Veyage a la Nowvtlle Guinee, p. 83. f At Cayenne it is called collier ; and the Spaniards of St. Do- mingo, feeing it robed in black and white like their monks, termed \ijrailecites ; the Indians give it the name thegUt thegle, from its fry. FeuilUt. I At Famine Bay. I N$ar Nelfon River. furprizQ n\ \ I ■1! 'iifi ■ ,i"i: fi ';Im' .:';i m m ,49 RING PLOVER. furprke that there (hould be birds common to South America and to Europe : a fa<5t extra- ordinary and inexplicable, except on the prin* C]|de which we eflablifh in treating of the wa- ter fowls ; that the element which they inhabit is in all latitudes nearly of an equal temperature, and eveiy where yields the fame fubiiflence. We fhall therefore regard the Ring Plover as one of thofe fpecies which are fpread over the whole globe, and derive the varieties which oc- cur in the plumage from the influence of cli- mate*. ' ' The Ring Plovers inhabit the verge of wa- ters ; they are obfcrved on the fea-fhore follow- ing the tide. They run very nimbly in the Arands, at times taking {hort flights, and al- ways fcreaming. In England, their nefls are found on the rocks by the coafl : there they are very common, as in mofl of the northern coun- tries; in Pruflia-f-, Sweden J, and ftill more in Lapland during fummer. A few of thefe birds are found alfo on the rivers, and in fome of the provinces of France: they are called gravieres (channel-birds) and in other places * We reckon the Greateft Snipe of Sloane and Ray one of the varieties. It is the Pluvitdis Jamaicenfis Torquata of BriiTon, and the Charatinm Jamaicenfis of Gmelin, who thus charafkerifes i: : ** Above brown, below white ; its breaft black and white ; its tail «< whitiih, variegated with ri^ous and blackifti ; its collar and its « feet black." •f- RzaczynikL X Linnseus. 6 criards ftING PLOVER. 9» eriards (fcreamers) which they well tntHt for their troublefome and continual cries diU'ing the education of their young, which lafts fo long as a month or fix weeks. Fowlers affure us, that they mike no nefls, but drop their eggs OA the gravel, and that thefe are greenifli fpotted with brown. The parents lurk in holes under the projeding brinks * ; and hence ornitholo- gifts have inferred it to be the fame with the tharadrios of Ariftotle, which, as the word im- ports, was an inhabitant of channels y or gullies -j- ; and whofe plumage, the philofopher adds, is as difagreeable as its voice. Ariftotle alfo fays, that it comes abroad at night, and lies concealed during the day % ; this remark, though not pre* ciiely applicable to the Ring Plover, has per- haps fome relation to its habits, fince it is heard very late in the evening. The charadrios was one of thofe birds to which ancient medicine or ra- ther fuperftition afcribed occult virtues, and it was fuppofed to cure the jaundice : the patient needed only to look at the bird §, which at tlie fame time turned afide its eyes as if afFedled by ^ * Klein. f Ariftophanes gives the charadrics the oEcc of conveying wa- ter into the city of the birds. I Hid. Animal, lib. ix. 1 1 . § The vender of this excellent remedy was careful to cdnceal his bird, felling only the fight of it : this gave cccafion to a pro- verb among the Greeks, applied to thofe who kept any thing pre- cious or ufeful concealed, imitatittg a charadrios. Geiiier. the 9* RING PLOVER, the difordcr *. What imaginary remedies has human weaknefs fought for its real ills ! * Heliodorus, JStbiefic, lib. iii. [A] The Ring Plovers are conunpn on the BritUh coaftf V| fiimmer, but (Mfappeir on ;he ap||>road^ of winter* [ » } ) ''. ;';^- . 'i L'Jl Lf'T',); I f! /';• The NOISY PLOVER. '"ly Le Kildir. Buff, i ... FIFTH SPECIES.'^ :; CbaraJrius Vociftrus. Linn, and GmeL 5- '^ '' Ptuvitdis Firginiana Terquata. BriiT. Tki Cbattering Pkv$r, or Kill'Dttr, Cateiby. ' > 'T^ H e name Kill-Deer, which this bird has in Virginia, is exprefUve of its cry. It is very common in that province and in Carolina, and is detefled by the fowlers, becaufe its clamours fcare away every other fort of game. There is a good figure of this bird in Catefby's work : it is as large, he fays, as the fnipe ; its legs tall; all its upper furface is brown-gray ; and the top of its head is hooded with the fame colour ; its front, its throat, the under iide of its body, and the compafs of its neck, are white ; the lower part of the neck is encircled by a black collar, below which is a white half collar : there is alio a black bar on the breafl, which flrecches from the one wing to the other; the tail is pretty long, and black at the extremity ; the reft of it, and the fuperior coverts, are of a rufous colour ; the feet are yellowifh i the bill is black ; the eye is I i * ' - *" 9* NOISY PLOVER. * 18 large, and environed with a red circle. Thefe birds remain the whole year in Virginia and Ca- rolina ; they are found too in Louidana *, No difference can be perceived in the plumage be- tween the male and the fbmale. A fpecies akin to this, perhaps the fame, is the collared plover of St. Domingo -(•, which requires no other defcription ; the only differ- ence lies in the colours of the tail, and the deeper tint of the wings. * Dr. Mauduit hat received it from that country, and preferves it in his cabinet. ■f CharaJrius yociferutt var, Gmel. Charadrius Terquatut. Linn. ' ' Pluvialit Dominietn/it Torqtuatt% BriiT, BrilTon {ays, ** that the two middle quills of the tail are gray« ** brown, tawny at the tip ; the two next on either fide gray-brown* '* black near the tip, and the tip itfelf white ; the outmoft white at * its origin, ftriped tranfverfely with blackilh.'* [A] Specific character of the Noify Plover, CbaraJrius Voeife" rus : *' It has black bars on its breaft, its neck, its front, and its «* cheeks } its tail is yellow, with a black bar ; its feet bright yel- [ 9S 1 The CRESTED PLOVER. Le Pluvier Huppe'. Buff* . SIJCTH SPECIES, Charadrittt Sfino/us, var, Linn. ^ Pluvialis Perjica Crijfata. Brifl*. The Black-breajied hdian Plover, Edvr. 'TpHis Plover, which is found in Perfia, is * nearly as large as the golden plover, but fomewhat taller ; the feathers on the crown of the head are black, gliflening with green ; they are collected into a tuft, which reclines, falls back, and is about an inch long ; the cheeks, the back of the head, and the fides of the neck, are marked with white ; all the upper furface is deep chefnut; a black fkeak defcends from the throat upon the breaft, which, as well as the ftomach, is black, with a fine violet glofs ; the lower belly is white; the tail is white at its origin, and black at its extremity; the quills of the wing, too, are black, and the great coverts are marked with white. This Plover is armed with a fpur on the wing. The female is diftinguifhed from the male ; all its throat being white, and its black not (haded by any admixture. C 96 j The SPUR-WINGED PLOVER* Le Pluvxer A^ Aigrette. Bufft S E y E NT H SPECIES. CharaJriut Spinofut, Linn, and Gmel. Pluvialis SenegaUnfis Arnuita» BriiH ^TpHE feathers on the back of the head extend ^ into threads^ as in the lapwing, and form a tuft more than an inch long : it is of the bulk of fhe golden plover, but taller, meafuring a foot • from the bill to the nails, slnd only eleven inches from the bill to the end of the tail ; the top of the head, the tuft, the thra:^ and the mark on the ftomach, are black, and alfo the great feathers of the wing, and the tips of thofe of the tail ; tht upper furface is brown gray; the fides of the neck> the belly^ aild the great coverts of the wing, are white tinged with fulvoUs: the fpur on the fold of the wing is black, flrong* and fix lines long. This fpecies is found in Senegal, and occurs too in the hot parts of Afia; for we received one from Aleppo* .j [A] Specific character of the Spur^winged Plover, tiiaradriui Spinofus: ** Its wing>qiulb> its bread, and its feet, are deep black} •* the back of its head crefled; its tail-quills half whiter its baf-* •■ tard wings armed with ijpars*" f 97 3 The HOODED PLOVER, Le Pluvier Coiffe'. Buff, EIGHTH SPECIES, Cbaradrius PiUatus. Gmel. A PORTION of yellow membrane pafTes on the front, and by its extenfion encir- cles the eye; a black hood, ftrefched behind into two or three flireds, covers the top of the head j the nape is white, and a broad black chin -piece, rifing under the eye, envelopes the throat, and encircles the top of the neck : all the fore fide of the body is white ; the upper fide of the body is rufty gray; the quills of the wing, and the end of the tail, are black; the feet are red, and there is a fjiot of the fame co- lour near the point of the bill. This Plover is found in Senegal, like the preceding, but is a fourth fmaller, and has no fpur in the wing. The fpecies is new. . I'V I, i» VOL. VIII. H Tit' I C 98 ] ii The CROWNED PLOVER. NINTH SPECIES. Cbaradrius Cofonatns. Gmel. The Wreathed Plover, Lath. TH I s is one of the largeft of the Plovers j it is a foot long, and its legs are taller than the golden plover j they are rufly- coloured ; the head is hooded with black, in which there is a white band, v/hich encompaiTes the whole of the head, and forms a fort of crown j the fore fide of the neck is gray, and the gray colour of the breaft is intermingled with black in coarfe waves ', the belly is white 5 on the firft half of the tail, and at its extremity, a black bar crofles the white j the quills of the wing are black, and the great coverts white ; all the upper furface is brown, glofled with greenifh and purple. It is found at the Cape of Good Hope. t 99 3 The WATTLED PLOVER, Le Pluvier a^ Lambeaux. Bufft TENTH SPECIES, Charadrius Bilohus. Gmel. WHi; ' J !l,' fi TH E charader from which we have derived the name of this bird, is a yellow mem- ibrane adhering to the corners of the bill, and hanging from the two fides in pointed wattles. It is found in Malabar : it is of the bulk of the ordinary plover, but its legs are taller, and of a yellowifh caft -, behind the eyes there is a white flreak, which edges the black hood of the head| the wing is black, and fpotted with vy^hite oil the great coverts j there is alfo black bordered with white on the tip of the tail j the upper furface, and the neck, are fulvous gray, and the under fide of the body is white : this is the common, and, we might fay, the uniform plu- mage of moft of the Plovers. \. M ; m t >oo 3 The ARMED PLOVER of CAYENNE. ELEVENTH SPECIES. Charadrius Cayanus, Lath. THIS is a Ring Plover, like the common one, but much taller: its bill, too, is longer, and its head not fo round ; a broad black band covers the front, inclofes the eyes, and joins into the black which ftains the back of the neck, the top of the back, and gathers into a round mark on the breaft : the throat is white, and alfo the fore lide of the neck, and the under lide of the body; a gray fpace, with a white edging, forms a hood behind the head j the firft half of the tail is white, and the reft is black ; the quills of the wings and the fhoulders are black alfo ; the reft of the upper furface is gray mixed with white; the fpurs are pretty long, and inferted in the fold of the wings. It appears to us, that the amacozque of Fer- nandez, a noify bird^ the plumage mixed with white and blacky and a double collar y which is feen the whole year on the lake of Mexico, where it lives on aquatic worms, is a Plover : we could have decided the queftion, had Fernandez given the charadter of the feet. f ! f >»I J The P L U V I A N. Charadrius Melanocephedus. Gmel. The Black-headed Plover, Lath. Tt is fcarce equal to the little ringed plover, but its neck is longer and its bill flronger : the upper fide of the head, of the neck, and of the back, is black ; and there is a ftreak of the fame colour on the eyes, and fome black waves on the breaft : the great quills of the v^^ing are mixed with black and white : the other parts of the wing, the middle quills and coverts, are of an handfome gray; the fore fide of rhe neck is rufty white, and the belly white ; it has three toes, like the plover, but the bill is larger and thicker, and the inflation is more perceptible. Thefe differences feem to conftitute a fhade in the genus, and I have therefore given it a dif- tinft name. '- H 3 lii.il li^ m ¥>'' I'l t: 1'^ >• i I m ■1 ^^ i 4 C «°* J :l m ■?';i m> The GREAT PLOVER*. Charadrius-Oediaiemus. Linn, and Gmel. PIhtj talis il ' ajor. B riff. Otis- Qedicn. mus. L ath. Oedicnctnus. Belon, Aldrov, and Johnft. Charadrius, Gefner. /'frf'oiz NoJIra Tertia. Ray. STi^f 5/a«e Cur/eiv. Will. 27 ^ A'o;/o/^* /'/owr. Penn. 9"/^»!/xt!, the upper part of the leg or knee. t Albin. H 4 the ii- ft h' ,M' t«i(1owMf, from »^a«, a thong, and «•«?, the foot ^46 termed becaufe of its flender legs. Pliny only writes the fame name in Roman charadlcrs, himantopus, which the moderns have copied. In Italian it is called, according to Belon, Merlo Aquaiolo Grande (the great water black-bird) in Flemifti Mathoen : in German Fioemhder Fogcl, (the foreign bird) and alfo, according to Sibbald, Dunn Bein and Riemen Bein (dun-lhan!c and thong-lhank). In Jamaica it has the appellation of long-lep^ed crane. its li ■ M. fid LONG-SHANK. its food ; they are alfo (lender, weak, and totter- ing -'•> ; and its three toes are difproportionally fmall, and give a bafe too narrow for its tall body. Hence the names of this bird in the an- cient and modern languages refer to the foftnefs and pliancy of its legs, and to their extreme length. The How laborious pace of this bird "f* feems however to be compenfated by its power of fly- ing. Its wings are long, and extend beyond its tall, which is pretty fhort ; their colour, as well as that of the back, is glofled with greenifli blue; the back of the head is brown-gray : the upper fide of the neck is mixed with blackifh and white : all the under furface is white from the throat to the end of the tail : the feet are red, and eight inches high, including the naked part, which is three inches : the protuberance of the knee is ftrongly marked on its fmooth, flender legs : the bill is black, cylindrical, a little flat at the fides near the point, two inches and ten lines long, clofe inferted on an elevated front, which gives the head a round fhape. We are little acquainted with the habits of this bird, whofe fpecies is fcanty and rare J. It * y^ldrovandus, torn. iii. /. 444.. f Incejfus, nifi lequali alarum expanfone lihratajtt, difficilis viJe* iur in tantd crttrum ^ pedum longitudine 13 exditaU. Sibbald. X We received a Long-Shank from Bcauvoir, in Lower Poitou, as an unknown bird ; which proves that it feldom appears on thofe coafts : this was killed in an old falt-pit ; it was remarked in Tiy- ing to ftrctch its legs backwards eight inches beyond the tail. probably 1^ LONG-SHANK, III probably lives on i ifed:s and worms, at the verge of ftreams and marfhes, Pliny mentions it under the name himantopus^ and fays, " that it is a " native of Egypt, and fubfifts chiefly on flies, *' and has never been kept more than a fev^ '* days alive in Italy *." Yet Belon fpeaks of it as an inhabitant of France j and the Count Marfigli faw it on the Danube. It appears alfo to frequent the northern countries 5 for though Klein fays that he never faw it on the coafts of the Baltic, Sibbald did in Scotland, and has ac» curately defcribed one that was killed liear Dumfries "f*. The Long-Shank occurs alfo in the new continent. Fernandez faw a fpecies or rather a variety in New Spain ; and he fays that this bird, an inhabitant of cold countries, does not defcend till winter to Mexico ; yet Sloane ranks it among the Jamaica birds. It follows from thefe apparently contradictory authotities, that the fpecies of the Long- Shank, which contains exceedingly few individuals, is diffufed or rather difperfed, like that of the ring plover, in very remote countries. — The Mexican Long^Shank, indicated by Fernandez, is rather larger than that of Europe ; it has a mixture of white in the black of its wings; but thefe differences • Lib, X. ^6, Oppian likewifp calls it himanto^HU (ixeutff^ llh. ii.) f ^(Qtm lUuflratflt par, II, Ub, iii, p. 19, = ! l\ %* Ai ■ ■I ' (, i»i \i' ! r (5 !■ If ^■i '■; Ii: ..f I i- If-!?! V m '^' 112 LONG-SHANK. fcem infufficient to conflltute a diftin«5t fpe- cies *. . - * Comaltecatl. Fernandez. Hhnanto^us Mexkanus , BrifT. [A] Specific charat'^rr of the Long-Shank, Charadrius Himan~ tepus : " It is white, its back black ; its bill black, and longer than " its head; its feet red, and very long " This fingular bird is ex- tremely rare in Britain. Sir Robert Sibbald gives a very full de- fcription of one Ibot at a lake near the town of Dumfries; and Mr. White has lately defcribed another fliot on the verge of Frinfham- pond in Surrey : both of them have given engravings of the bird j but in Sibbald's figure the bill is reprefei\ted quite ftraight, and in White's it is fomewhut bent inwards. ¥m ■ i. H. il T i miv '^1 I, r ■-■ iflM :;i 201 if! H:l 1 1=1 wi 1 THE PIED OY13TEX0ATCJJE1L. I' IV" [ 113 ] The OYSTER-CATCHER*. L'HuiTRiERj vulgairement La Pie de Mer, Buff. T Hamatopus OJiraUgus, Linn, and Gmel. Scohpax Pica, Scopol. Hamatopui, Bel. Aldrov. Johnft. Sibb. &c. . Pica Marina. Charleton. Ofiralega. BriiT. rheStaPie. Alb. The Pied Oyfttr-catcher, Lath. ^ H o s E birds which diiperfe in our fields or retire under the (hade of our forefls, inha- bit the moH: enchanting fcenes, and the moft peaceful retreats of nature. But fuch is not the lot of all the feathered race : fome are confined to the folitary (hores ; to the naked beach, where the billows difpute the polTeffion of the land 5 to the rocks. On which the furges dafh and roar 5 and to the infulated fhelving banks which are beaten by the murmuring waves. In thefe de- fert ftations, fo formidable to every other being, ' • In French Pie de "Mer (fea-pie) and fometimes BmLj^t de Mer (fea- woodcock.) In Gothland it is called Marjpitt : in the ifle of Oeland Strandjk Jura: in Norway TieU, Giii, Strand-Jkuire, Strand-fiade : in the Feroe iflands Kielder : in Iceland the male is named Tilldwr, and the female Tilldra, VOL. VIII. ,1 a few lit U' I ii 'E: :> ii ■ '^ A \ i'i' -1 i ■ ■ 114. OYSTER- CATCHER. fl^ a few birds, fuch as the Oyfter- catcher, obtain fabliftance and i'ecurity, and even enjoy pleafurc and love. It lives on lea-worms, oyflers, lim- pets, and other bivalves, which it gathers oh the land of the fea-fhore : it keeps conftantly or> tjie banks, vsrhich are left dry at low water, 6r oh the little channels, where it follows the refluent tide ; and never retires farther than the fandy hillocks which limit the beach. This bird has alfo been called the Jea-pr'e, not only on account of its plumage, which is black and white, but becaufe it makes a continual noife or cryi efpe- cially when it is in flocks : this Cry is fhrill and abrupt, repeated inceflantly whether at reft or on the wing. This bird is feldom feen on mofl: of the French coafls ; yet it is known in Saintonge *,, and in Picardy -f*. In the latter province it fometimes breeds, and arrives in very confider* able flocks when the wind is at eaft or north- weft. They repofe on the fand of the beach* waiting for a fair wind to waft them to their ufual abode. They are believed to come from Great Britain, where they are indeed very comr mon, particularly on tht^ eaftern coafts of that ifland J. They alfo advance farther north ; for they are found in Gothland, in the ifle of Oe- ♦ Belon. , ' '■ ■ " '' ' ' ■ ■ •'■ ""'. •' \ Note lotnmmikated by M. Baillon, of Monireutl'/ur'tatr^ I Willughby. \,Mnd, OYSTER-CATCHER. IIS land *, and in the Danifti iftands, as far as Nor- way -f- and Iceland. On the other hand. Cap- tain Cook faw them on the coafts of I'erra del FuegOt and near the .*>traits of Magellan J. They have been difcoveied at Dulky Bay in New Zea- land : Dampier remarked them on the fhores of New Holland ; and Kjempfer affures us, that they are as common in Japan as in Europe. Thus the Oyfter-catcher inhabits all the Ihores of the ancient continent; and we need not be furprized to find it iri the ijew. Father Feuillee obferved it on the eaft of Terra Firma : Wafer at Darien : Catefby at Carolina and the Bahama Illands : Page du Pratz at Louifiana §. And this fpecies, fo diffufed, has no variety, but every where the fame, and disjoined from all others. None indeed of the ihore birds has, with the Ma- ture of the Oyfter-catcher, and its fhort legs, the fame form of bill, or the fame habits and «Economy. * fauna Sufcica, N" i6l. f Brunnich, Oinithol. Borealis, N» 1 8^. X ** Sea-pies or black Oyfter-catchers inhabit, with many other -«» birds, the verge of thefe coafts, furrounded by immenfe floating w beds of fampbire on the eaft point of Terra del Fuego, and of the «' Strait."— CWiy^faW Voyage. ' § " The h4tchet-bill is ib called, becaufe its bill is red, and fa- ** ihioned.Iik£ the head of an hatchet : its feet are alfo of a very *' fine red, for which reafon it is often named red-foot. As it lives *• wholly on Ihell-.fifti, it frequents the fea-fide, and is never feen ^ on the land, except before fbme great tempeft, which its retreat ♦'•Annoauces." Le Page du Pratz. Hijloirt de la Louijiane^ torn. ii. /. 117. 12 This m / 1 ^^ II'' ;!i lii li'i ■1 1- I'l II- f I 111 f:\\ M I ■' it ''! '/ 11 in: m. 4,, Ii6 OYSTER-CATCHER '(I This bird is as large as the crowj its blH four inches long, contracted, and, as it were, com- preffcd vertically above the noftrils, and flatten- ed at the fides like a wedge as far as the tip, whofe fquarc fedtion forms a cutting edge ♦ : a ftrudture peculiar to itfelf, and which enables its bill to raife up and detach the oyflers, limpets and other (hell-fifh from their beds and rocks. The Oyfter-catcher is one of thofe few birds which have only three tof,s. This iingle cir- cumdance has led fyllematic writers to range it next the buftard. Yet it is apparent how wid« is the feparation in the order of nature ; for not only this bird haunts the fea-Hiores, it even fwims, though its feet are almoil entirely devoid; of mer^branes. It is true that, according ta M. Baillon, who obferved the Oyfter-catcher on the coafts of Picardy, its method of fwimming is merely paflive, but it has no averlion to re- pofe on the water, and leaves the fea for the land whenever it choofes. Its black and white plumage, and its long bill,, have given occafion to the inaccurate appella- tions oifea-pie ^Tidfea-woodcock: the nzm^OyJier- catcher is proper, lince it expreflbs its mode of fubfifting. Catefby found oyfters in its ftomach» and Willughby entire limpets. The organ of di- gcftion is fpacious and n;iufcular» according to • Le Page Ju Pratz, ut /tipra. Belon I 1,5 • O YSTER^CATCHER. 117 Belon ; who adds, that the flefh of the bird is black and hard, and of a rank ta(le. Yet M. Baillon avers, that the Oyfler-catcher is always fat in the winter, and that the young ones are tolerably pleafant food. He kept one more than two months in his garden, where it lived chiefly on earth-worms like the curlews, but alfo ate raw flelh and bread, with which it was well content. It drank indifferently either fait or frelh water, without fhewing the lead preference to either ; yet in the ftate of nature thefe birds never inhabit the marOies or the mouths of ri- vers; they remain conftantly on or near the" beach; probably becaufe freili waters do not afford the proper fubliftence. The Oyfter-catcher makes no neft j its eggs, which ^re grayilh and fpotted with black, it lays on the naked fand, out of the reach of the tide, but without any preparation for their reception ; it only feems to feled a high fpot, ftrewed with fragments of (hells. The number of eggs is ufually four or five, and the time of incubation is twenty or twenty-one days : the female does not coyer them affiduoufly • ilie feems, in this refpeyin- ter. U I 'I II I ■ „ t : IT' ' » » ' I . C 121 ] i The S W I F T - R U N N E R. Le Coure-vite. Buff, Charadrius Gallicus. Gmcl. CwJ'orius Europaus. Lath. Ind. Pbtvialis Morinellus Flave/cens. Gerin, The Cream-coloured Plover, Lath. Syn. TH E two birds reprefented in N"' 795 and 892 of our PL Enl. are of a new genus, which required a diftindt name. They refem- ble the plover in the feet, which have only three toes, but differ in the fhape of the bill, which is curved, whereas that of the plovers is Ar&ight and inflated near the end. The firfl was killed in France, where it had probably ilrayed, iince no other has been feen. It ran with rapidity along the fliore, and hence it de- rived its name. We have fince received from the coajfl of Coromandel a bird entirely Hmilar jn form, and different only in its colours; fo that it may be regarded as a variety, or at leafl a kindred fpecies. Both of them have larger legs than the plovers ; they are as large, but not fo thick I their toes are very fhort, particularly the two lateral ones. The plumage of the firfl is gray, wafhed with rufous brown ; on the eye is k f ij If; '■1 I2» SWIFT- RUNNER. is a lighter ftreak, almoft white, which ftretches backwards, and below it a black ftreak riling from the outer angle of the eye : the top of the head is rufous ; the quills of the wing are black, and each feather of the tail, except the ty/o middle ones, has a black fpot, with another white ofte near the point. The fecond, which came from Coromandel> is rather fmaller than the firft; the fore fide of the neck and breaft of a fine chefnut-rufous, which lofes itfelf in black on the belly; the quills of the wing are black ; the upper furface gray; the lower belly white; the head en\rc- loped with rufous nearly as in the firft : in b(|tb th? bill and feet are yeUpwiih white. t > 'f I ' ! " T >4'i > «i 1 ' r .l-jVi^;! ' ' ^ .e- I ill,, i. tJ . ^ ■f' :j} •!•;(, ■ o.'i r«M ' { ' •'/*. t' t 'H ;;, -I: ,. >l 4-: ' '>-j(/) .*, 202 ,'fci ; I THE TURNrSTOJJTE. ill:: ; C "3 3 »-»».. .III. The TURN-STONE. Le Tourne-Pierre. , Buff, Tringa-Interpres. Linn, and Gmel. Arenaria. BrifT. Morimllus Marinus. Will, and Ray. The Hehr'tdal Sandpiper. Penn. and Lightfoot, Th« Turn-Jlcne, or Sea Dotterel. Edw. Lath. &c. yf%T E adopt the name Turn-Jione^ given by Catefby, becauie it indicates the lingular habit which this bird has of turning over the ftones at the water's-edge, to difcover the worms and infers that lurk under thefe ; whereas all the other fhore-birds content themfelves with fearching in the fand or mud. " Being at fea,*' fays Catefby, " forty leagues from Florida, in the latitude of 3 1 degrees, a bird flew on our fhip, and was caught. It was very alert in turning the ftones that lay befide it : in doing fo, it ufed only its upper mandible, and was able to turn over very nimbly ftones of three pounds v/eight *." This adtion implies ftngular force and dexterity in a bird which is hardly fo large as the dufky fandpiper. tt it THE \YATKR OU '/< EL. ■'• I'll f ' i ffiW Ti if ' ' !■' 1 r' WAT E R-O U 2 E L, 127 and efpccially in the pebbly channels of clear rivulets*. Its habits are very lingular. Aquatic birds with palmated feet fvvim or dive ; thofe which inhabit the (hores, without wetting their body, wade with their tall legs; but the Water- Ouzel walks quite into the flood, following the declivity of the ground : it is obferved to enter by degrees, till the water reaches its neck ; and it ftill advances, holding its head not higher than ufual, though completely immerfed: it continues to walk under the water, and even defcends to the bottom, where it faunters as on the dry bank. We are indebted to M. Hebert for the firft account of this extraordinary habit, which I know not to belong to any other bird. I fhall here give the obfervations which he was pleafed to communicate to me. " I lay ambuflied on the verge of the lake " Nantua, in a hut formed of pine-branches .**. and fnow, where I patiently waited till a boat, ** which was rowing on the lake, fhould drive " .fome wild-ducks to the water's edge. I ob- **.lerved without being perceived: before me **„was a fmall inlet, the bottom of which gently i . \ .. * The Water-Ouzel has a very wide mouth ; its feathers are greafy like the ducks, which en.iblcs it the eafier to dive under water fot-aqfuattc infects : it forms it^'nefl with mofs near rivulets, and fa.- ihiohs it like a vault : its eggs are four in number. ExtraSi of a Ut' ttrfrom Dr. Hermann t9 M, ds Montbeillard, dated Strafljurgt xzdSef' « fhelved, i\. ''\ ■!:« I 1. ;-,. ■■' w } ! nS W ^^T E R.O U 2 E L. " (helved, and might be about two or three feet " deep in the middle* A Water-Ouzel (lopped " here more than an hour, and I had full leiiure '* to view its mana3uvfcs4 It entered into the water, difappeared, and again emerged on the other Tide of the inlet, which it thiis repeat- edly forded. It traverfed the whole of the bot- tom, and feemed not to have changed its ele- " ment, and difcovercd no heiitation or reluc- •* tancc in the immerfion. However, I per- " ceived feveral times, that as often as it waded deeper than the knee, it difplaycd its wings, and allowed them to hang* to the ground. I ** remarked, too, that when I could difcern it at " the bottom of the water, it appeared inveloped " with air, which gave it a brilliant furface; like ** feme forts of beetles, which are always in wa- ** ter, inclofed with a bubble of air. Its view in dropping its wings on entering the water, might be to confine this air ; it was certainly never without fome, and it feemed to quiver. " Thefc Angular habits of the Water- Ouzel were unkjiown to all the fportfmen whom I have talked with j and, perhaps, without the " accident of the fnow-hut, I fhould have ever ** been ignorant of them : but I can aver, that ** the bird came to my very feet, and, that I ** might cbfcrve it, I did not kill it *." The hijftory of birds prefents few fa(Sts more cnricus than the foregoing. Linnaeus had * Xote cemmunicated fy M, Hehtrt to M. U Comti dt Brnffm. rightly 4( « (< « «( << t€ tt tt t€ tl I WAT E R-0 U Z E L. X29 rightly faid, that the Water-Ouzel dcfcends into the ftrcams, and again emerges with much dexterity * ; and Willughby had remarked that, though cloven -footed, this bird dived : but nei- ijier of them fcems to have known that it plun-cd in order to walk on the bottom. We may eafily fuppofe, that for this purpofe a peb- bly channel and clear water are rcquifite, and that a flimy ground would be altogether impro- per. Accordingly, this bird is found only Li mountainous countries, at fources Df rivers, and in the torrents which pour down from the rocks J as in Weftmorland and other hilly parts of England -f- ; in France, among the mountains of Bugey and Vofges,.and in Switzerland J, iC fits on the ftones through which the rVm wind their courfe. It flies very fwiftly ftraight for- ward, razing the furface of the water, like a kingfifher. When, on wing, it utters a fee- ble cry, efpecially in the feafon of fprlng: jt then aflfociates with its female, though at all other times it goes fingle ||. The female lays four or five eggs j conceals her neft whh gre^t care, and often places it nea. th)?. paper-mills con(lru<5ted on brooks. The feafon in which Hebert faw the Water* Qnzdi proves that it is rot a. bird of pa^a^e* • Fauna SuecUa, t Willughby. { liiem. ii i^. VX)l.. vxu. K It M. u '!•■ hi \ i i 1:11 1. '30 WAT E R.O U 2 E L. It remains all winter in our mountains, and dreads not the rigour of winter even in Sweden, where it feeks the catarads and whirlpools, which are not affected by the froft*. The nails of this bird are very ftrong and curved, and ferve to clafp the pebbles, as it walks at the bottom of the water : the feet have the fame conformation as thofe of the land ouzels : like them alfo, it has the hind toe and nail ftronger than thofe placed before, and thofe toes are diftindtly parted, and without any por- tion of membrane, as Willughby fuppofed. The leg is feathered to the knee ; the bill is fhort and ilender, both mandibles tapering equally, and arched flightly near the point. The bill of this bird, the feet and the neck being fhort, we might conceive it requifite to walk under the water, to catch the fmall fifli and aquatic infedls on which it feeds. Its plu- mage, which is thick and clothed with down, feems impenetrable by water, which enables it to remain without inconvenience in that fluid ; its eyes are large, of a fine brown ; the eye-lids white, and they muft be kept open under water, that the bird may diflinguifh its prey. ' A fine white fpace covers the neck and bread; the head and the upper fide of the neck, as far as the fhoulders and the border of the white fpace, are ruUy afh-colour, or chefnut; the * Fauna SutcUa, back, WAT E R-O U Z E L. I3« back, the belly, and the wings, which reach not beyond the tail, are of a blackifh and flaty cinereous ; the tail is very fhort, and has nothing remarkable. [A] Specific charafter of the Water-Ourel, TurJus-Cinclus : •« Its bill and feet are black; iti llraps while; its tail and rwnip " gray and brown." m 11 ;!>. « i '*, ■•■ '' : JC2 [ I>34 ] ■^ 9 If: I !: ■mi il'l! The WATER-THRUSH. LA GRfVE d-Eau. Buf\ '' ' Tringa Maeu/aria, Linn, and Gmel. Turdus Aquaiicus. BrifT. The Spotted Tringa, Edw. ^he Spotted Sandpiper. Penn. and Lath. 'T^ HIS bird has the fpeqkled plumage and the '*' fize of the throftle : its feet refemble thofe of the preceding ; its nails are large and hooked, particularly the hind one j but its bill is fimilar to that of the purre, of the dulliy fandpiper, and of other fmall fhore birds, and the lower part of its leg is naked : it is therefore wide of being a thru(h. It appears to be a foreign fpe- cies, little related to the European birds : yet Edwards prefumes that it is common to both continents, as he received one from the county of Eflex, where it had flrayed, no other hav- ing ever been feen there. The bill is eleven or twelve lines in length : it is flelli-coloured at the bafe, and brown near the point J the upper mandible is marked on each lide by a furrow, which extends from the nof- trils to the extremity of the bill ; the upper fur- face of the body is fprinkled with blackilh fpots on WATE R-T HjR U S H. *33 on an olive-brown ground, as the under furface is fpeckled on a lighter and whitish ground; there is another white bar above each eye, and the quills of the wing are blapkifh ; a fmall membrane joins the outer toe, near the root, to the middle one. [A] Specific charafter of the Spotted Sandpiper, TringaMa- (ulata: «' The bafe of its bill and its feet, are cari^ation; its body " fpotted all over ; its eye-brows, and a double bar on its wings, " white." P n H'i »l I I' C 134 3 The K N O T. Le Canut. Buf. Trittga-Canutus. Linn, and Gmel. T T is probable that in fome of the northern "■• countries there are traditionary anecdotes of this bird, fince it retains the name of Canute, the Dane, king of England ^'^. It would much refemble the gray lapwing, were it as large, and its bill otherwif^ (haped. This is pretty thick at the bafe, and tapers gradually to the extremity, which is not very pointed, yet not inflated like the bill of the lapwing : all the upper fide of the body is cinereous and waved; the white tips of the great coverts trace a line on the wing; blackifh crefcents on the white-gray ground mark the feathers of the rump : all the under fide of the body is white fpotted with gray on the throat and breafl ; the lower part of the leg is naked ; the tail does not exceed the clofed wings. Willughby fays, that he faw one of thefe birds in Lintolnlhire, about the begin- ning of winter, and that they remain there two * That monarch is faid to have been remarkably fond of the ficlh of this bird. IVillughhj, •' or KNOT. 135 or three months, in flocks by the fea-fhore, and afterwards difappear : he adds, that he faw another near Liverpool. That which Edwards defcribes, was found in the London market, in the hard winter of 1740; which makes me think that they never advance to the fouth of Great Britain, but in the moft fevere feafons. They muft, however, be more common in the northern parts of that ifland, fince Willughby defcribes a method of fattening them, by feeding them with bread foaked in milk, and fpeaks of the exquifite flavour thus communicated to their flefh. He fubjoins, that, at firft light, a perfon would not diftinguifli them from the fandpipers (tringce)^ but by the white bar on the \ving. The bill, he remarks, too, is of a harder fubftance than ufual in other birds, in which its flrudture refembles that of the woodcock. An indication given by LinnjEus would ftiew, that this bird is found in Sweden 5 yet does a difficulty occur: for, according to Willughby, the feet of the Knot are cloven, but Linnseus re- prefents his Canutus as having its outer toe con- neded by the firft joint to that of the middle. If both thefe obfervers have been accurate, we muft regard the two birds as belonging to dif- tind Ipecies. i I" y\ IP IF ^-^ •\}'^'i' [A] Specific chara THESE birds conflitute a large family, and. their habits are different from thofe of Ae other ihore- birds, which refide on fandi and gravel. The Rails, on the contrary, inha- bit only the flimy margins of pools and rivers, efpecially low grounds covered with flags and other large marih plants. This fhode of liv- ing is habitual and commoh to' all the fpecie^ of water rails,. The land rail frequents hiea- dows, and from the difagreeable cry, or rather rattling in the throat, of this bird^ is derived the generic name *. In all the Rails, th« body is jflendcr, and fhrunk at the fides j the tail 6x- tfeinely fhort ; the head fmall j the bill pretty like that of the gallinaceous kind, though much longer^ and not fo thick ; a portion of the leg above the knee is bare; the three fore toei with- out membranes, and very long: they do not, }ike other birds, draw theit feet undet their belly in flying, but allow them to hang down ^ their wings are fmall and very concave, and their flight is fhort. • Kaler^ in French, figfilfics th railt^ in etit*i throat r I. m !!i '-.isv;,^' -i^ft^^fc- ^ "-ri»" Raii. [ »37 1 The LAND RAIL. Le Rale de Terre, ou Genet. Buffi FIRST SPECIES. HalluS'Crex. Linn, and Gmel. GaUinulaCrex. Lath. Ind. Ortygemetra. Gcfner, Aldrov. Will. Johnft. &c. ♦ Crex. Gefner, Aldrov. Charlcton, &c. Rallus Gent/} arum. Brifl'. Rallus Terrejiris. Klein. The Land Hen. Will. The Daker Hen, or Rail. Alb. , The Corn Crek. Sibb. Scot. The Corn Craker. Martin's Weft. Ifles. The Crake GaJlinule. Lath. Syn. T N wet meadov/3, from the time the graft is ^ grown till it be cut down, there iffues from the thicicefl part of the herbage a raucous voice, or rather a broken, harfli cry, creky crek, crek, much like the noife made by ft ripping forcibly the teeth of a large comb under the fingers: as we approach the found retires, and is heard at a * It is denominated in Greek, Italian, French and German, the mother or king of the ^ailsf O^rvyof^vr^a, Re delle ^taglie. Rot des Cailles, Wachtel Koenig : in German it is alfo named, from its cry, Schryck, Schrye ; in Silefia Snevcker : in Poland Chro/iiel, Derkacz, Kafper : in Sweden Korn Knnrren ; and in the province of Upland ^eng/naerpa : in Norwegian Akerrirty Jger-hone. This bird lurks frequently in broom, and hence the name it fometimcs has in French, Gmtt^ and the appellation which BriiTon gives it, RaUns Genijiarum, remove 1. ; ill'.' I " ;;' ')' M :> 138 I A N D RAIL. remove of fifty paces. It is the LanJ Rail that emits this cry, which might be taken for the croaking of a reptile *. This bird feldoni ef- capes by flight, but almoft always walks nimbly through the thickcll grafs, where it leaves a re- markable track. It begins to be heard about the loth or 12th of May, at the fame time with the quails, which it feems ever to accompany -(-. Hence, as the quails too inhabit meadows, and as the Land Rail is lefs common, and rather larger, it has been fuppoled to be their leader f , and therefore called the king of the quails . But it differs from thefe in the chara^Slcrs of its con- formation, which are common to the other rails, and in general to the mardi birds §, as Ariftotle has well obferved ||. The chief refemblancc which this rail bears to thp quail confills in its plumage, which however is browner and more golden ; fulvous predominates on the wings ; blackifh and rufty form the colours of the body ; thefe are difpofed on the flanks by tranfverfe lines, and are all paler in the female, which is rather fmaller alfo than the male. A gratuitous extenfion of the imaginary ana- logy between the Land Rail and the quail has likewjfe imprcfled the notion of an equal fecun- btin * Longolius, apud Gefnerum. f Tht/ arrive and retire together, according to Longolius. I Ariftotle, Hi/i. Animal, lib. viii. 12. § Klein. {| Lib. viii. 2. dity. LAND RAIL; 139 dity. But, from repeated obfervations, we arc allured, ilvAt it fcluoin lays eight or ten eggs, never eighteen or twenty, as fuppofed : indeed, were we to admit fuch multiplication, the fpe- cies would he more numerous, confidering how well the neft is concealed. This neft is negli- gently conftrudcd with a little mofs or dry grals, and placed ufually in fome fmall hollow in the turf: the eggs, larger ti\an tholb of the quail, are fprinkled with broader reddifli fpots. The young crakes run as foon as they burfl the fliell, following their mother, but quit not the meadow till the fcythe fweeps away their habi- tation. The late hatches are plundered by the hands of the mower. All the other broods then (belter themfelves in the. fields of buck- wheat, among oats, and in wafte grounds over- fp v:ad with bioom, where they are found often in fumn'.er: a few return again to the meadows about the end of that feafon. We may know when a dog lights on the fcent of the Land Rail, from his keen f^arch, his number of fiilfe tracks, and the obllinacy with which the bird perfifls in keeping the ground, infomuch that it may be fometimes caught by the hand; it often flops fhort, and fquats down; the dog pufhing eagerly forward, overlhoots the fpot, and lofes the trace ; the Rail, it is faid, pro- fits by his blunder, and runs back on its path ; nor does it fpring till driven to the laft extre- mity, and then it rifes to a good height before it % H", I ht %r a i m tj^a LAND RAIL. 121 m !V: If i ■'i III h: Jit ■ i« f* '.I'll it ftretchts onwards. It flics heavily, ?•» I jicvci ta a great diilance. It is ufually feen !.:• dirjbt, but in vain fhould we fearch for it ; before thp fowler has reached the fpot, the bird has tripped off more than an hundred paces. The flcetnefs of its feet compcnfatcs for the tardinefs of its wings : all its little excurfions, its windings, and its doublings in the helds and meadows, are performed by running. When about however to retire into other countries, it feels, like the quail, unufuai vigour, which fits it for perform- ing the diftant journey *. It commences its ^ight during the night, and aided by a favoura- ble wind it advances into the fouth of France, where it attempts the paflage of the Mediterra- nean. Many perifli, no doubt, in thefe migra- tions, and it is remarked that their numbers are fewer on their return. The Land Rail is never feen in the fouth of France but in its paffage : it does not breed in Provence •f. Belon fays, that it is rare in Can- dia, though pretty common in Greece and Italy : it is found therefore in that ifland only in its tranfits of fpring and autumn. The migrations of this bird extend more to the north th^n to * I afked the Tatares how this bird, not being able to fly, could retire in winter : they told me that the Tatares and the Aflanians knew well that it could not of itfelf pafs ix^tp another cpqntry ; but that when the cranes retire in aulunrn, each takes a r^il upon its back, and conveys ii to a warmer climate. Gmelin, Voyagt tn Siberiet torn. ii. /. II 5. t Memoirs (emmumated if tbt M^^uU de Pi^knf. the LAND RAIL. HI the fouth; and, notwithflanding the (lownefs of its flight, it penetrates into Poland *, Sweden -f*, Denmark, and even Norway J. It is faid to be rare in England §, and found only in fome par- ticular diftrids, though common in Ireland |(. Its motions feem to obferve the fame order in Ada as in Europe ; and in Kamtfchatka the month of May is likcwife the term of their arriva^f . The Land Rail repairs to the northern coun- tries as much for the fake of cool lituations, as to obtain its proper food ; fmce, though it eats feeds, efpecially thofe of broom, trefoil, grom- well, and fattens in the cage on millet and grain **, it prefers infeds, flugs, worms ; and theCe, which are neceflary for its young, can be found only in (hady wet grounds -f-f-. But when grown up, every fort of aliment fuits it : it be- comes fat, and its flefh exquifite. It is caught, like the quails by a net, into which it is decoyed by an imitation of its cry, cr^/:, crek, crek, by • Rzyczyiki, f Linnxus. ■ jiMiilleri Brunnich. §• Turner fays, that he never faw or heard It anywhere but in Northumberland : yet Dr. Tancred Robinfon avers that it is found alfo i» the riorthcrn part of Great Britain; and Sir Robert Sibbald reckons it among the birds of Scotland. II Willughby and Ray. ^ In the Kamtfchadale language, the month of May is called Ta'va Kbatch, which fignifies the month of quails. •* Aldrovandus. ft Willughby, Schwenckfeld, Linnaeus. rubbing :!i yllli lint!! l.i f 'iNii* \^: II 14* LAND RAIL. -I I f! rubbing hard the blade of a knife on an in* dented bone *. Moft of the names given in different lan- guages to this bird are evidently formed to imi- tate this fingular cry -f*. Hence Turner, and fo ne other naturalifts, have fuppofed it to be crex of the ancients. But that term appears to have been applied by the ancients to other birds. Philus gives the crcx the epithet of jB^u^uTrle^a^, or JluggipO'winged, which would indeed fuit the Land Rail. Ariftophanes reprefents it as mi- grating from Libya : Ariftotle fays, that it is quarrelfome, which may have been attributed to it from the analogy to the quail ; but he adds, that the crex feeks to deftroy the nefts of the black - bird J, which cannot apply to the rail, lince it never inhabits the woods. Still lefs is the crex of Herodotus a rail, for he compares its fize to that of the ibis, which is ten times larger §. The avofet, too, and the ♦^-al, have fometimes the cry crexy crex : and the bird which Belon heard repeating that cry on the banks of the Nile, is, according to his account, a fpecies of godwit. Thus the found repre- fented by the word crex, belonging ro feveral ipecies, is not fufficiently precife to diilinguifh the Land Rail. * Longolius. f Schryckt Scherekt Koru-Knatrr, Ccrtt'Crtk, Wf. X Lib. ix. I. S See the Article of the Uiu [A] Specific I i»: 'III ill LAND RAIL. '43 [A] Specific charaftcr of the Land Rail, Rallus-Crex: " Its *' wings arc rufous ferruginous." This bird leaves our ifland in winter : on its firll arrival it weighs only ^ix ounces, but fattens fo much during its ftay as to weigli eight ounces before it retires. The Land Rails appear numerous in the ifle of Anglefea, about the end of May, and are fuppofed to pafs from thence into Ireland, where the humid face of the country is fo congenial to their na- ture. tai '4 I'll A w • i \d\ '1^ C 144 ] il V'"! t ■; It' The W A T E R RAIL. SECOND SPECIES, Rcdlus Aquatictts. Linn. Gmel. BrilT. &c, The Water Rail, Bikock, or Break Ouzel*, Will. 'T^ H E Water Rail runs befide flagnatc water ■*' as fwiftly as the land rail through the fields. It alfo lurks conftantly among the tall herbs and rufhes. It never comes out but to crofs the water by fwimming or running ; for it often trips nimbly along the broad leaves of the water-lily which cover pools -f*. It makes fcnall tracks over the tall grafs ; and as it always keeps the fame paths, it may be eafily caught by noofes fet in them J. Formerly, the fparrow- hawk or falcon § was flown at it ; and in that iport the greateil difficulty was tQ ftt up the • In German Schivartz Wafer Heunlt (black water-hen) Aejch-' heuulin (cinereous fowl). Gefner gives it the name Samet- buttle, ox velvet hen, on account of its foft plumage. At Venice it is called Foraane or Porzana, which appellation is alfo beftowed on the wa- ter hens. In Denmark it is denominated Vagtel-Konge : in Nor- way Band-rire, Strand-fnarre, Vand-hcnty Vand-'vagtel : and in the Feroe iflands Jord-kcene* f Klein. • X Belon. % Belon and Gefner. § bird. If.!20^ !:■ I( l.M THK VVATI';R RAlf.. WATER RAIL. 145 bird, for it ftuck to its concealment with the obftinacy of the land rail. It caufes the fame trouble to the fportfman, raifes the fame impa- tience in the dog, which it mifleads and dif- tradt;^, and protrad:s as long as poffible its fpring- ing. It is nearly as large as the land rail, but its bill is longer, and reddifli at the point j its .feet are of a dull red: Ray fays, that in fome fpecies thefe are yellow, and that this difference may proceed from the fex. The belly and fides are ftriped acrofs with whitifh bars on a blackilh ground : the colours are dilpofed the fame as in all the rails : the throat, the braalt, the ftomach, are of a fine flate-gray ; the upper furface is of an olive brown rufous. Water Rails are feen near the perennial foun- tains during the greateft part of the winter : yet, like the land rails, they have their regular migrations. They pafs Malta in the fpring and autumn *. The Vifcount de Querhoea; faw fome fifty leagues off che coafts of Portugal on the 1 7th of April ; they were fo fatigued that they fuffered themf^lves to be caught by the hand •f. Gmelin found thefe birds in the coun- tries watered by the Don. Belon calls tlicm • Note communicated by M. Defmazy. f " I tried," fays M. de Qiierhoent, ** to raife foi|ie : tliey ** thrived wonderfully at firft, but after a fortnight's confinement " their long legs grew paralytic, and the birds could only crawl on *' their knees ; at laft they expired." Gefner fays, that having long fed one, he found it to be peev^(h and quarrelfqme, VOL. VIII. I, i^tack (■• ill I*- 'H r I Ma- ll, V tl I M ** I- , m Hi- I m m f i'l n I ! w 146 WATER RAIL. 3lacJi rails, and fays they are every nvbere known, and that the fpecies is more numerous than the r^^ r/^i/ or land rail. - .:.,;:■ The flefti of the Water Rail is not fo delicate as that of the land rail, and has even a marfhy taftc, nearly like that of the gallinulc. [A] Specific charaaer of the Water Rjul : « Its wings ar*. •* gray, fpotted with brown ; its flanks fpotied with white ; its bill « fulvous below." It continues the whole year in England. m ' I; J )i -^^- \ •» ■, • 1 C M7 3 The MAR O U E T T E. . m THIRD SPECIES. H alius -Porzana. Linn, and Gmel. Gallinula-Porzana. Lath. Ind. ' GalUnula Ochra, Gefner. Porcellanot Porzana, Grugneito. Aldr. Rallus Jquaticus Minor, Jive Marouetta. BriflT. The Spotted Watci--hen. Penn. The Spotted Gallinuk. Lath. Syn.* 'T^ HIS is a fmall water rail, not exceeding a lark in fize. All the ground of its plti- mage is olive-brown, fpotted and clouded with whitifh, whofe luftre gives this dark fhade an enamelled giofs j whence it has been called the pearled rail Frifch denominates it improperly the fpotted water-hen. It appears at the fame feafon with the great w^ater rail : it haunts marfhy pools : it lurks and breeds among the reeds : its nefl: is fafhioned after the manner of a gondola, and compofed of ru/hes interwoven and faflened at the ends to the ftalk of a reed ; fo that, like a fmall boat or cradle, it rifes and * In Picardy it is called Girardine, and in the Milancfe Girar- dina : in fome parts of France Cccouan, according to Brinon : in tixc Bo\ogae(c Ferzana : and in Alface IVi»kernell, acworu" g to I. 2 fiaks in! f r 1. fJ! h h f i ■if w n •f H 148 MARQUETTE. finks with the water. It lays feven or eight cggSi and the floating young are hatched all black. Their education is fpcedy 5 for they run, fwim, dive, and foon feparate, each to lead a fo- litaiy, favage life, which prevails even in the feafon of love : fince., except during adtual coi- tion, the male difcards his female, pays no ten- der attentions or carefles, indulges in no frolics or joyous airs, and feels none of thofe foft de- lights, the fweet preludes of fruition. Unhappy beings, who never bpeathe a figh to the obje^^ts of their paflien ! infipid loves, whofe fole end is to procure pofterity ! Its habits wild, its inftind ftupid, the Marouette is unfufceptible of education, nor is even ca- pable of being tamed. We raifed one, how- ever, which lived a whole fummer on crumbs of bread and hemp- feed: when by itfelf, it kept conftantly in a large bowl of water j but if a perfon entered the clofet where it was fhut, it ran to conceal itfelf in a fmall dark corner, without venting cries or murmurs. In the ftate of liberty, however, it has a fliarp piercing voice, much like the fcream of a young bird of prey : and though it has no propenfity to fociety, as foon as one cries, another repeats the found, which is thus conveyed through all the reft in the diftrid:. The Marouette, like all the rails, is fo obfti- nately averfe to rife, that the fportfman often feizes it Jwith his hand, or fells it with a ftick. If MARQUETTE. 149 If it finds a bufh in its retreat, it climbs upon it, and from the top of its afylum beholds the dogs brufhing along in fault: this habit is common to it and to the water rail. It dives, fwims, and even fwims lindcr water, when hard pufhed. Thefe birds difappear in the depth of winter, but return early in the fpring 5 and even in the month of February they are common in fome provinces of France and Italy. Their flefli is delicate and much efteemed j thofe in particular which are caught in the rice- fields in Piemont are very fat, and of an exquilite flavour. [A] Specific charafter of the Ru^us-Perzana : " Its two middle *' tail-quills are edged with white ; its bill and feet fom^what " olive." m I, 'I ■ ■!. :i'! ■* I' ;ft [ i5« ] FOREIGN BIRDSof the Ancient Continent, WHICH ARE RELATED TO THE RAIL. The TIKLIN, or PHILIPPINE RAIL. FIRST SPECIES. Ra/Ius Fhilipptnjis. Linn. Gmel. and BrilT. 'T^ HERE are four diiFerent fpecies known by the name of T'ikUn in tlie Philippine iflands. The prefent is remarkable for the neatnefs and agreeable contrail of its colours : a gray fpace coveiji the fore fide of the neck j another fpace of chefnut rufous covers the upper lide of it and the head; a white line extends above the eye ; all the under fide of the body is enamelled as it were with little crofs lines, alternately black and white in feftoons j the upper furface is brown, clouded with rufty, and fprinkled with fmall white drops on the flionlders and the edge of the wings, of which the quills are intermixed with black,white, and chefnut. This bird is rather larger than the water rail. [A] Specific charafter of the Rallus Philippenjis : " It is brown, «• below ftriped with gray ; its eye-brows white j its neck tawny «« below." >5» t* ! CIENT The BROWN TIKLIR AIL. SECOND S P E C I £ S. Rallut Fttfcui. Linn. Gmel. and firifl*. The Brown RaiL Latii. RAIL- nown by e iflands. nefs and ay fpace ler fpace of it and I eye j all IS it were nd white , clouded ite drops vings, of :k,white, than the 'Tp H E plumage of tl Sird is of an uniform dull brown, only ed on the throat and bread with a purp e vinous lint, and broken under the tail by a little black and white on the lower coverts. It is as fmall as thj5 pre* ceding. [A] Specific charafter of the Rallus Fu/cus : *< It is brown, its ** vent waved with wliite, its feet bright yellow.'* It is brown* neck tawny 1 4 .'iuV^%, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 ^K£ Ui I.I 11.25 lis 1^ 12.2 ^ tiS, 12.0 u i! ^U4 VilfA,, PhotogFEiphJc Sciences CorporatiGn 33 WBT MAM STRHT wnSTII,N.Y. MSM (7U)t73-4S03 4^ .V i^ ^ ^ ^^> '^' 'i-> t .-^ ^ t «S» ] I The S T R I P E D T I K L I N. r H 1 R D S P E C 1 E S. * Rallus Striatus. Linn, and Gmel. ' . Ra/lus Philifpenjis Striatus, Brifll 'T^His is of the fame fize with the preceding. '■' The ground of its plumage is fulvous brown, crofled, and, as it were, worked with white lines ; the upper part of the head and neck is chefnut-brown : the flomach, the breaft, and the neck are olive-grays and the throat is rufty white. ' [A] specific chara6ter of the Rallus Striatus : « It is blackiih «* waved with white, its throat tawny." u t «SJ J The COLLARED TIKLIN. i :'.. FOURTH SPECIES. Ralluj Terquattts. Linn, and Gniel. Rallus Philippenfis Torquatus, BriiT. The Banded Rail. Lath. >■. * ~ i if i 1 'Tp H I s is rather larger than th.e land rail. Its •^ upper furface is brown, tinged with dull olive; its cheeks and throat are foot-colour; a white track rifes from the corner of the bill, paiTes under the eye, and extends behind ; the fore fide of the neck, the breaft, the belly, are blackifh- brown, ftriped with white lines; a band of fine chefnut of the breadth of the finger, forihs a half collar above the breaft. (A] Specific charafter of the Rallm Torquatus : ** It b brown* ** beUiw waved with white, a white line below its eyes." A'.' L ■'"• :i *:•■.'•!:■' ::--y d^^bi ^fifj thh' h^^^kt it t IM J FOREIGN BIRDS of the New Continent, WHICH ARE KBLATED TO THE RAIL. The LONG-BILLED RAIL. . FIliStSPECl£S, \ RaUus Longin^ris. Gmel. ^T^HE fpecies of the rails are more divcrfificd, ■^ and perhaps more numerous, in the deluged and fwampy grounds of the new» than in the diyer countries of the ancient continent. It ap- pears that two of thefe are fmaller than the reft, and that the prefent is, on the contrary, larger than any of the European. Its bill alfo is longer, even than in proportion i its plumage is gray, or a little rufty on the fore fide of the body, and mixed with blackiih or brown on the back and the wings j the belly is ftriped with white and black crofs bars, as in moil of the othv ails. Two fpecies, or at leafl: two varieties ot thefe birds, arc found in Cayenne ; and they differ widely in fize, fome being as large as a godwit, and others fcarcely equal to the common water rail. K ii m C 155 3 The K I O L O, SECOND SPECIMS. ''Hi Rallui CaytMtnfit. Gmel. The Caymnt Rail. Lath. TH I s is the name by which the natives of Cayenne exprefs the cry or puling of this Rail. It is heard in the evening at the fame hour with the tinamousy that is, at fix o'clock, the inftant the fun fets in the equatorial cli- mates. Their cry is the lignal to aifemble ; for in the day-time they lurk difperfed and folitary in the wet buihes. They make their neft in the little low branches, and it conlifts of a fin* gle fort of reddifh herb ; it is raifed into a fmall vault to prevent the rain from penetrating. This Rail is rather fmaller than the marouette ; the , fore fide of its body and the crown of its head-are of a fine rufous, and the upper furface is waflied with olive-green on a brown ground. We conceive that Edwards's Penfylvanian rail is the fame with this *. ;f !'i ' • Rallus Firginianus. Linn, and Gmel. Ridlus Aquaticus, var. I. Lath. Rallus Penjylvamcus. Briff. The Atnerican Water-Rail. Edw. The Virginian Rail. Pcnn. ** Above it is brown, below tawny-brown ; its tail>quills brown ; its eye-brows and its throat white." Latham, C «56 J The SPOTTED RAIL of C AYE NNE. ',— . i ».r. v^. A • Hifi. Avi, JVflv. Hify» cap. x. p. 16. " Acolln or ivater- « quul. As large as a ftare ., . . the under fide of its body bright •* white, its fides fpotted with fiilvous ; its upper fide fulvous, di- ** vided by blackifli fpots and bright white lines, encompaffing four <^ quills.' » ■> - i I ■(■ ij- iy ,: o-'M'i-. . ,)* arfl :;>i1t '■1'; ii's^n: 4^.> ' «,Q.r^K*ir;^-! Jigft;|l^ig^fltt^ifrlrgW«'i*fe w ..^«W. r ?*» ; 1^ -rU, •.:,^/.-- - :. ,,-,. ^^.-'Ci.: . ' \ . • . . . ":■• In: ■ li.y ^^^ ,s:?^d': J.-o>bf>VA ■^sij: ^fr ;0 ;•:;:. ::-f<\ ;■ i^m •Vi- *>«- i rvM- ■' -^y^-^-'n^ • t'. • • -- ^ ^ . . . • ' lat 0- 1 • ils ^ :0' ire • • 1 ler- ght ^ • 3 di- bur - ^ "■p- A ^5^ 'K M , ' H"?*.- ' * . ' * . * * • '■'>■ • ' ' » I ^ • 1 * ■-'■ 1 . ■ ■ ■ ' .'. • ■ . < » ■» ( » % '^ ' • ' '".'•* ^ • * ' * . ■ . ■ "'' *" I 1:1^ \\ "i! .;•!! [•> ■ii ' 1- .'I 1 J\/?206' THE CAURAL SNIPE. t «6« ] The C A U R A L E. Ardia'HtUat «. Quel, tnd Pallaf. ^ctioptut'Htliat. Lath. Ind. Tbt CauraU Snift. Lath. Syn. T p we attended only to the (hape of the bill and feet, we (hould reckon this bird a rail ; but its tail is much longer, and we have therefore adopted a compound name, expreflive of this character, Caura/e or ^eue Rdle (tail-rail). Its plumage is rich, though the colours are dark : to form an idea of it, we may compare it to the wings of thofe fine (hining flies, in which black, brown, rufous, fulvous, and light gray, inter- mingled in zones and zig-zags, compofe a fofc enchanting mixture. Such particularly is the plumage of the wings and tail ; the head is hooded with black, and there are long white lines above and below the eye ; the bill is ex- actly that of the rail, except that it is rather longer; and the head, the neck, and the body are alio longer than in the rail; the tail is five inches, and projects two beyond the wings ; the fi)ot is thick, twenty-fix lines high, and the * In Cayenne it is called pttit Paon du rojis (little peacock of the rofes.) nake^ VOL. VIII. M ! :,\ 1 62 C A U R A L E. naked part of the leg ten : the rudiment of a membrane is broader and more apparent than in the rail. The total length, from the point of the bill, which is twenty-feven lines, to that of the tail, is fifteen inches. j,^ This bird has not hitherto been defcribed, and was but lately difcovered. It is foimd, though rarely, in the interior parts of Guiana, where it inhabits the fides of rivers : it lives folitary^ and makes a flow plaintive whiflle, which is imitated to decoy it. , i,.. f.t. J ■;• T., .■-. . it ^i z-:\- •'< f I5tc::.'^.'> j ..4.. »i ,i'S .. i. .:. I- . w.. .v-il. ■;■"♦: ;. 1 > f4j/»> i- 4:::'v T.iu.'i . ;; . .i.i h..j<: ,>! !-,; ■ r'i;..^v 'hi>lx,;,J - - ■ 1 iii^:! 'A< ft ■ ( -, •• . ^^ ' ^ • •:'' 'ft' ''('aril <.''■■'■..'■ ^..S'"^'' -^'^^ ,X;ii3-ii :vri'i l:ii:^, i1ji,:i;>'.; ■;i' '*K. ; :!-, ,,.;.{!.- . i ■ » .<■. V V. ^•' *'-e bulk of a pullet fix months old; the length frpni the bill to the tail is a foot, and from the bill to the nails fourteen or fifteen inches i the bill is yellow at the point, and red at the bafe ; the membranous fpace on the front is alfo red, and fo is the lower part of the thigh above the knee ; tlje feet are greenifh ; all the plumage is of a dull iron gray, clouded with white under the body, and greenifh brown gray above ; a white line borders the wing ^ the tail, • Hift. Gen. des Voy. torn. xv. /. 227. f R^aczyn&i. J Gefner. " " ^ Hiftoire dc la Loul0ane, tontt ii. /. 1 1 7. }| Journal d'Obrervations (edit. 1725.) /. 553. when WATER HEN. 167 when raifed, fhows white on the lateral feathers of the inferior coverts ; — the plumage is thick, compact, and clothed with down. In the fe- male, which is rather fmaller, the colours are lighter, the white waves on the belly are more diftindt, and the throat is white : the fpace on the forehead is, in young fubjedts, covered with a down more like hair than feathers. A young Water Hen, which we opened, had in its ftomach portions of fmall fifh and aquatic plants mixed with gravel: the gizzard was very thick and mufcular, like that of the domedic hen : the bone o£ the Jiernum appeared to us much fmaller than ufual in birds; and if this difference was not owing to the age, it would partly confirm the afifertion of Belon, that the ^ernum and ifchium are of a different fhape in the Water Hen from the fame bones in other birds, [A] Specific charafter of the Water Hen, FuJica Chhreput: ** Its front is fulvous, ifs bracelets * red, its body blackifh." Lin- nxus fays, that it has two hatches annually, and lays feven eggs about two inches long, of an ochry white colour, with a few fcar- let fpots. '■^ i. t, the coloured pnss al)ov9 the li^neps. M 4 ii \ I' I I [ 168 J The LITTLE WATER-HEN. La Poulette d*Eau. Buff. FuJica tufca, Linn, and Gmel. CnUimla Fufia. Lath. Ind. Gallinula Minor. Brifll • 7'be Browtt GaUinide, Lath. Syn. npMdtTGH Belon has applied to this bird the diminutive poulette, it is not much fmaller than the preceding. Its colours are nearly the fartie ; only that naturalift remarks, that it has a blueiih tint on the breaft, and that its eye-lid is white i he adds, that its flefh is very tender, and that it« bones are thin and brittle. We had one rf thefe birds which lived only from the 2 2d of November to the loth of December : water in- deed was its only fupport : it was fhut in a nar- row tomer, and taken out every day by two p^nes which opened in the door ; at earliefl: dawn it repeatedly darted at thefe glaHes : during the reil of its time it concealed itfelf as much as pofUble, holding down its head : if taken in the hand, it pecked with its bill, but feebly. In this rigorous confinement it was never heard to utter a fingle cry. Thefe birds aie in general very ta- citurn J they are even faid to be dumb, but when at liberty, they have a flender call — bru bri, bri. [A] Specific chara£ler of the Brown Gallinule, FulUa Fu/ea : " Its front is yellowiih, its J}racelets of the fame colour, tti bod/ " duikifh." f ««9 J The PORZANA, or the GREAT WATER-HEN. Fulica Fu/cat var. Gmel. Gallinula Major, BriiT. HaUut Italorum. Johnfl. Ray. Will. &c 'T^His bird is very common in Italy, in the neighbourhood of Bologna, where the fowlers call it Porzana, Its length from the bill to the tail is near a foot and a half; the upper fide of the bill is yellowifh, and the point blackifh ; the neck and head are alfo blackiHi ; the upper fur&ce is chefnut-brown ; the reft of the plumage is the fame with that of the com- mon water hen, with which we are aflured it is fometimes found in our pools : the colours of the female are paler than thofe of the male. In [ '70 J The G R I N E T T A. Ftiliea Navia. Gmel. GalUnuIa Fulica, Lath. Ind. Porphyria Navius. firifl*. Pnliopm. Aldrov. Gcfner, and Ray. ^be Small Water Hen. Albin. '•Ibe Grinetta Gallinule. Lath. Syn. ACCORDING to Willughby, this bird is fmaller than the rail, and its bill is very fhort. If we may judge from its diiFerent names, it muft be well known in the Milanefe *. It is found alfo in Germany, according to Gef- ner : that iiaturalift fays nothing more than that its feet are gray, its bill partly red, partly black, the upper furface rufous brown, and the under fide of the body white. • At Milan, fays Aldrovandus, it is called Grugnetta ; at Man- tua Porzana ; at Bologna Porcellana ; and elfewhere Guardella Co' lumba : at Florence it is denominated Tordo Gel/eminot according to Willughby. I «7> 3 The S M I R R I N G. Fult'ca Flavipes. Gmel. GulUnula Flavipes. Lath. Ind. Porphyrit Rufus. BrifT. Gallinula Oehrofus Major. Ray and Will. TheTellmu-leigtd Gallinuk, Lath. Syn. TH E name Smirring, which Gefncr fuppofcs to have been giv^n in imitation of the call,, is in Germany the appellation of a bird which appears akin to the water hens. Rzacynfki, mentioning it as a native of Poland> fays, that it haunts the rivers, and ncfties among the bufhes which grow on their banks : he adds, that the fwiftnefs with which it runs made him fome- times term it trochilus. In another place, he defcribes it like Gefner : ** The ground of its plumage is rufous ; the fmall feathers of the wing are brick-colour ; the great quills of the wing are black ; fpots of the fame are fprink- " led on the neck, the back, the wings, and the ^' tail J the feet and the bafe of the bill arc yel- •' lowifh/* n « (( i I t "7* J The G L O U T. Fuhea Fifiultuis. Gmel. GalUnuU Fiftultms. Lath. Ind. Porpbyrio Fu/chs, firifll Tb$ Piping GaUinuk. Lath. Syn* 'T^ HIS is a water hen, according to Geftcr. He fays that it has a (hrill high voice like the tone of a fife : it is brown, with a little white on the point of the wings : it is white round the eyes, at the neck, on the breaft and the belly ; its feet are greeniih, and its bill is black. r 173 1 FOREIGN BIRDS, WHICH ARE RELATED TO THE WATER-HEN, The GREAT WATER-HEN of CAYENNE. FuUcaCaytntnJit, GmeL ^'b* Cagtant GaUituiU, Lath. 'X^ H I s bird approaches the heron by the len^ of its neck, and removes from the water-hen by the length of its bill. It is the largefl: of the genus, being eighteen inches long : the neck and the head, the tail, the lower belly, dfld the thighs, are brown gray ; the upper fur- face is dull olive ; the flomach and the quills of the wings are rufous inclined to red<*ifh. It is very common in the fwamps of Guiana, and is feen even in the ditches of the town of Ca3r^ enne : it lives on f nail fifh and aquatic infects: when young its plumage is entirely gray, which becomes reddi(h after moulting. C m J The MITTEK, 'Tp H E accounts of Greenland mention this bird as a water hen, but it may be fome fpecies of diver or grebe. In the male, the back and neck are white ; the belly black, and the head verging on violet. In the female, the plumage is yellow, mixed and edged with black, fo as to appear gray at a diftance. Thefe birds are very numerous in Greenland, efpecially in winter : they are feen flying in the morning from the bays to the iflets, where they fubfift on fhell-fifhj and in the evening they return to their retreats, where they pafs the night. They follow the windings of the coaft in their flight, and the finuofities of the ftraits between the iflets. They feldom fly over land, unlefs the force of the wind, particularly when it blow« from the north, confines their excurfions. The fportfmen feize this opportunity to fire at them from fome promontory y thofe that are killed are picked up by a canoe, for fuch as are wounded go to the bottom, and never more appear *. Hiftoire Generale des Voyages, torn. xix. p. 44. "IT! [ 175 ] The K I N G A L I K. TH I s is alfo a native of Greenland, and faid to be a water-hen. It is larger than the duck, and remarkable for the indented protu- berance which grows on the bill between the noftrils, and which is of an orange yellow. The male is entirely black, except that its wings are white, and its back mottled with white: the female is brown. These are all the foreign fpecies which we can refer to the water-hens ; for thofe termed clucking hens by Dampier are, according to his own account, akin to the herons *. Alfo the beautiful water-hen of Buenos-Ayres, defcribed by Father Feuillee, is really of a different kind, lince its feet are like a duck's » * " The clucking hens referable much the crab-eaters, but their ** legs are not quite fo long; they keep conftantly in the wet marftiy " places, though their foot is formed like that of land birds : they " ufually cluck like a hen with her chickens, for w hich reafon the " Englifli call them clucking hens. There are many of them in the ** bay of Campcachy, and in other parts of the Weft Indies • . . The " crab-eaters, tlie clucking hei:3, and the goldens, with regard to ** figure and colour, refemble our Englifh herons, but are fmaller." Dampier'' s Voyage rcund the Wirld, § Laftly, 1: 176 WATER HEN. Laftly, the Barbary water-hen^ with fpotted wings, of Dr. Shaw, which is lefs than a plover, appears to us more related to the rails> than to the water-hens *. ♦ * RaUus Barbariau, Gmel. Tbt Barhwiy Rail, {^atlu '^ • ; •.. ; i ' i i . .\ ■)t^r*s;i: » < ■». 'J- : 'irt ' »• Jif208 J* THE C'HFiSMirT JA.CAIN'^V, C »77 ] The J A C A N A. (C (( FIRST SPECIES. ■ ;. Parra-'Jacana. Linn, and Gmel. • ' Jaiana Armata Fu/ca. BrifT. ■ » • Jn/cr Qhihijis. ' Charleton. .'..•, T^e Spur-'wingcd Water- Hen, Edw. ,^ , - The Che/nut Jacana. Lath. TH E Jacana of the Brazilians," fays Marc- grave, " muft be ranged with the wa- ter-hens, which it refembles in its inftinds, in its habits, in the round fhape of its body, *• in the form of its bill, and in the fmallnefs of ** its head." . Yet it appears to us to differ ef- fentially from thefe birds by fingukr and even peculiar charaders : it has fpurs on the (boul- ders, and fhreds of membranes on the fore fide of the head ; its toes and nails are extremely long ; the hind-toe is as long as the fore-toe % all the nails are ftraight, roUnd, and drawn out like needles j and from this circumftance proba* bly it received at St, Domingo the appellation of Surgeon, The fpecies is common in all the marihes of Brazil 5 and we are affured that it ocjcurs alfo in Guiana and St. Domingo. Wc may prefume that it is likewife found in all the VOL. viii. «t tropical 178 J A C A N A. i tropical parts of America, both on the conti- nent and in the illands, as far as New Spain ; though Fernandez feems to fpeak of it only from report, fince he makes it come from the north, whereas it is really a native of the fouth. We know four or five Jacanas, which are of the fame bulk, and differ only in colour. The firft fpecies given by Fernandez is the fourth of Marcgrave. The head, the neck, and the fore- lide of the body of tnis bird, are black tinged with violet ; the great quills of the wing are greeniflij the reft of the upper furface is fine chefnut, with a purplifh or ferruginous caft : each wing is armed with a pointed fpur inferted in the ftioulder, exaftly like the fpines of the crifped ray-fifli ; a membrane, taking its origin at the root of the bill, fpreads on the front, and divides into three portions, leaving alfo a barbel on each fide j the bill is ftraight, inflated fome- what at the point, and of a fine yellow jonquil, like the fpurs j the tail is very ihort, and this charadlcr, as well as the form of the bill, the jtail, the toes, and the height of the legs, of which the half is covered with feathers, belongs equally to all the fpecies of Jacanas. Marcgrave feems to exaggerate, whtn he compares their bulk to .that of a pigeon ; for their body is not larger than the quail, only their legs are much taller; their neck is alfo longer, and their head imillcr: *''*■ • « • 4 . < Lhe conti- ew Spain ; of it only ! from the ve of the lich are of our. The ,e fourth of d the fore- ack tinged ; wing are face is fine inous caft : )ur inferted ines of the g its origin e front, and Ifo a barbel kated fome- low jonquil, )rt, and this he bill, the gs, of which ongs equally grave feems leir bulk to s not larger are much d their head fmiller: J A e A N A. 179 fmaller : they are always very lean j yet it is faid their flefh is palatable. The firft fpecies of Jacana is pretty common at St. Domingo, whence it was fent us by M. Lefcbure Deihayes, under the appellation of Chevalier mordore arme *. " Thefe birds," he fays, " go commonly ia pairs, and when feparated by fome accident they cull each other : they are very wild, and the fportfman cannot approach thern but by^ wiles, covering himfelf with leaves, or running ** behind the ^afhes or the reeds. They arc feen regularly in St. Domingo during the rainy months of May and November, or (hortly after: yet a few are feen at other times, which would (hew that the places of *' their habitual abode are not very remote. But they are never found except in marflies, or at the fides of pools and brooks. " The flight of thefe birds is not lofty, but pretty rapid : in rifing they vent a fhrill, fqueaking cry, which is heard far, and feqms ** to bear fome refcmblance to that of the white ** owl. The poultry are alarmed, taking it for " the fcream of a bird of prey, though the Jacana. is very remote from that tribe. Na- ture we might fuppofe has armed it for war, yet we know not any foe which it combats." This analogy to the armed lapwing*, which ; quarrelfome and noify birds, and have a * ;. f. The armed ferruginous horfeman. N 2 fimikr « « « « <( « <( « C( « « « it « « % 111 i8o J A C A N A. iimilar form of bill, feems to have induced fome naturalifts to clafs them together *. But they differ in the fhape of their bod]^ and of their head, and in fo far refemble the water-hen, from which, however, they arc diftinguilhed by the peculiar conformation of their feet. The Jacanas may therefore be reckoned a feparate genus, ap- propriated to the new continent. Their abode, and their ftrudture, fufficiently fhew that they live and feed after the manner of the other fliore- birds. And though Fernandez fays that they frequent only the fait bafons near fea-mark, it appears from the above quotation that they oc- cur in the interior parts of the country, on the verge of frefh waters. * Adanfon. See the Supplement of the Encyclopedie, article Aguapeca, [A] Specific charafter of theChcfnut Jacana, Parrarjaeana: " Its hind nails very long, and its feet greoufn." r i«i J :cd fomc But they of their len, from d by the * f ,1 e Jacanas ) ;nus, ap- eir abode. that they ler ftiore- ':i that they -mark, it r they oc- y, on the t J pedie, article ;^ trraryaeana ; The BLACK JACANA. SECOND S>P E C I £ S. Parra Nigra. Gmel. Jacana Armata Nigra, Briffl AL L the head, the neck, the back, and the tail, are black j the top of the wings and their points are brown, the reft is green, and the under fide. of the body is brown; the fpurs of the wing are yellow, and fo is the bill, from the root of which a reddifh membrane rife« over the front. Marcgrave gives this fpecies for a native of Brazil. • ^ f N 3 mmpm--' I 182 3 1; > The GREEN JACANA. THIRD $ P E C I JS S, Parra FiriJis. Gmel. Jacana, Pifon. Johnft. ^nd BriiT. MARCORAVE extols tlic bcauty of this bird, which he reckons the firft fpecies of its genus : its back, its wings, an4 its tail, are tinged with green on a black ground, and the neck gliftens like that of 9 pigeon : the head is inverted with a membrane of Turkey blue ; the bill and the nails «re vermilion in their firfl half, and yellow at the point.. The analogy leads us to fuppofe that this fpecjes is armed as wel: as the reft, though ^Jarcgraye does ^ot pxprefs it. k ^ C 183 ] The J A C A N A-PECA. IS wei: as r't « it it FOURTH SPECIES. Parra Brajilienjis . Gnvel. Jacana Armata. Briff. Aguapecaca. Marcg. Johnft. Ray, WilL 4fC The Brafiliau Jacana. La^h. , TH E Brazilians call this bird Agua-pecaca : we term it Jacana-Peca, to fuggeft both its genus and its fpecies. It differs little from the preceding : *' Its colours," fays Marcgrave, are more dilute, and its wings browner j each wing is armed with a fpur, which fervcs as a weapon of defence; but its head is not co- •* vered with membrane." The name Porphy- rioUy which Barrere has given to this bird, feems intended to denote its red feet. The fame au- thor fays that it is common in Guiana, where the Indians call it Kapoua \ and we apprehend that the following note of M. De la Borde refers to it. " The little fpecies of water-hen, ovfur- geojtt with armed wings, is very common in Guiana, where it inhabits the pools of frefli ** water and the meres: it is ufually feen in pairs, though fometimes twenty or thirty flock together. There are always fome in N 4. ** fummer (C (( « it i84 JACAKA.PECA. it tt " fummer in the ditches round the town of *• Cayenne; and in the rainy fcafon they appear even in the open parts of the new town: they lurk among the ruihes, and live on fifh •' and water infeds.'* It would fcem that in Guiana, as well as in Brazil, there are feveral fpecies or varieties of thcfc birds, which are known under different names. Aublet informs us, that the furgcon-bird is pretty common in Guiana, in the meres, the bafons, and the plaflies of the favannas; that it fits on the broad leaves of the water-lily; and that the natives give it the appellation of kinkin, expref- five of its fhrill note. [ i85 ] The VARIEGATED J A C A N A. :. FIFTH SPECIES, Parra Fariabilis. Gmel. Rallus tligitis triuncialibus, Klein. Fulica Spino/ok Linn. Jacana A r mat a Varia* BriA*. 1 he Variable J acana. Lath. TH I s Jacana has the fame predominant colours with the others, but more varied : it is greenifh, black, and purple chefnut : on each fide of the head there is a white bar, which pafles above the eyes : the fore fide of the neck is white, and alfo the whole of the under ilde of the body : the front is covered with an orange-red membrane, and it has fpurs on the wing. This bird was fent to us from Brazil : Edwards reprefents one brought from Cartha- gena ; which confirms our remark, that the Ja« canas are common to different parts of America, fituated between the tropics. C 186 ] I. I> The SULTANA HEN, or P O R P H Y R I O N.* FuIica'Porphyrio^ Linn, and Gmel. Gallinula-Porphjrio. LaUi. Ind. Porphyria. Gefner. Aldrov. Jolinft. Will. &c The Purple Wat^r-hen. E4w. and Alb. The Purple Gallinule, I^ath. Syn. TH E moderns have given the name of Sul- tana Hen to a bird famous among the an- cients, under the name of Porphyrkn, We have frequently had occafion to remark the juft- nefs of the denominations beftowed by the Greeks, v^^hich generally allude to the diftinc- live charad:ers, and are therefore fuperior to the terms haftily adopted in our languages from fu- perficial or inaccurate viev^rs. The prefent is an inflance. As this bird feemed to bear fome refemblance to the gallinaceous tribe, it got the name qf ben ; but as, at the fame time, it differed widely, and excelled by its beauty and port, it received the epithet of Sultana, But the term Porphyrion, indicating the red or purple tint of its bill and feet, was more juft and chara(5ter- iftic : and /hould we not rebuild the fine ruins • In Greek Uoe^v^>oi, on account of its purple bill and feet. The Romars adopted this name. of 2^209 IE N, N.* cc tme of »S^^/- ng the an- r/o;/. We •k the juft- d by the he diftinc- :rior to the ss from fu- prefent is bear fome , it got the , it differed nd port, it It the term rplc tint of charafter- i fine ruins i THE rURPI-.E. GALiLiINDLK, : bill and feet. of SULTANA HEN. 187 of learned antiquity, and rcftcre to nature thofe brilliant images and thofe faithful portraits from the delicate pencil of the Greeks, ever awake to her beauties and her animation ? Let us therefore give the hiftory of the Por- phyrion, before we fpcak of the Sultana Hen. Ariftotle, in Athenaeus *, defcribes the Porphy- rion to be a bird v/ith long legs and pinnated feet, the plumage blue, the bill purple, and firmly fixed to the front, and its bulk equal to that of a domeftic cock. According to the reading of Atheneus, Ariftotle fubjoined that it had five toes; which would have been erro- neous, though fome other ancient authors have alledged it.. But among the moderns, Ifidorus has fallen into a much greater error, which has been copied by Albertus, who fays that one of its feet is webbed and calculated for fvvimming, and that the other is fitted for running like the land birds ; which is equally falfe and abfurd, apd mufl mean nothing more than that the Porphyrion is a fhore bird, and lives on the confines of the land and water. Jt appears, in- deed, to be amphibious j for, in the domeflic (late, it eats fruits, flefh, and fifli : its ftomach has the fame flrudture with that of thofe birds which Jive eqiially on animal and on vegetable foodf. M * Deipnos. 9. f Memoires de rAcademie des Sciences, depuis J1666 ji)r(^tt*)Bn llbt^, torn. iii. fart it 3. It ^ ( " t •I h i 1 ■' i ^ i8d . S U I^ T A N A HEN. ; It is therefore cafily reared : it charms by its noble port, its fine fhapes, its brilliant plumage, enriched with intermingled tints of purple and beryl: its difpofition is mild and peaceable: it conforts with its domeftic companions, though of different fpecies, and feleds feme favourite among them *. It is alfo a pulverulent bird, like the cock : yet it employs its feet, like a hand, to carry food to its bill-f. This habit feems to refult from its proportions, the neck being ihort, and the legs very tall ; fo that it is fatiguing to floop [to the ground. — The ancients had made mofl: of thefe remarks on the Porphyrion, and it is one of the birds which they have defcribed the befl. Both the Greeks and Romans, notwlthftand- ing their voracious luxury, abftained from eating the Porphyrion. They brought it from Lybia J, from Comagene, and from the Balearic i(lands§, to be fed ||, and to be placed in their palaces and temples, where it was left at liberty as a gueft f", • See in JEUzn the ftory of a Porphyrion which dieJ of grief, after having loft the cock its companion. f Pliny, I:L x. 46. I Alexander the Myndian, in Athenseus, reckons the Porphyrion in the number of Lybian birds, and relates that it was facred to the gods in that country. According to Diodorus Siculus, Porphy- rions were brought from the heart of Syria, with other kinds of birds diftinguifhed by their rich colours. § Pliny, Ii&. X. 46 and 49. " tt Belon. fl'jEIian, /i5. iii. 41. . . ♦ whofe f I IIWi» Mil ■■■■iJWWjIMW^WP* SULTANA HEN. 189 whofe noble afpe^fl, wliofe gentle difpofition, and whofe elegant plumage, merited fuch ho- nours. Now if we compare this Porphyrion of the ancients with our Sultana Hen, figured in N' 8 1 o, Planches Enhminees, it appears that this bird, which was brought to us 'from Madagafcar un- der the name of taleve *, is exaftly the fame. The academicians, who have defcribed a fimilar one, recognized alfo the Porphyrion in the Sul- tana Hen. It is about two feet long from the bill to the claws : the toes are extremely long, and completely parted, without the leaft veftige of membrane : they are difpofed as ufual, three before and one behind -, and Gefner was mif- taken when he repiefented them as placed two and two : the neck is very fliort in proportion to the length of the legs, which are featherlefs : the ft&t are very long ; the tail is very fhort ; the bill is fhaped like a flat cone at the fides, and is pretty fhort : the laft property which charac- terifes this bird is, that its front is bald, like that of the coot's, and covered with a plate, which, extending to the top of the head, fpreads into an oval, and feems to be formed by the production of the horny fubftancc of the bill. This is • The taleva is a river bird of the bulk of a hen, which has many violet feathers ; and its front, its bill, and its feet red. Flacoart fpeaks of it with admiration. Hiji. Gen. des Voyages, t. viii. p. 6o6.«->The French navigators call this bird blue hen. ** The blue hens of *' Madagafcar have bred on the ifle of France." Remarh made in tjl^t tj the Fi/ceuHt de ^rho'e'nt, ; what f^O SULTANA HEN. what Ariftotle expreffes in Athenaeus, by faying that the Porphyrion has its bill ftrongly attached to its head. The academicians found two pretty large ccrca^ which expanded into facs ; and the inflation of the lower part of the cefophagus feems to fupply the place of a craw, which, Pliny fays, is wanting in this bird. This Sultana Hen, defcribed by the Acade- micians, is the firft bird of the kind that has been feen by the moderns. Gefner fpeaks only from report, and from a drawing of it : Wil- lughby fays, that no naturalift has feen the Por- phyrion. We owe to the Marquis de Nefle the pleafure of having feen it alive ; and we exprefs our moft refpedlful thanks for what we regard as a debt of Natural Hiilory, which every day is enriched by his enlightened and generous tafte : he has put it in our power to verify in a great meafure, on his Sultana Hen, what the an- cients have faid of their Porphyrion. This bird is very gentle and innocent, and at the fame time timorous, fugitive, fond of folitude and retirement, concealing itfelf as much as pofli- ble when it cats. It cries from fear when one approaches, at firft with a faint found, which afterwards grows (hriller and louder, and ends with two or three dull and hollow claps : while in a cheerful mood, it vents fofter and calmer accents. It feems to prefer fruits and roots, particularly thofe of the fuccoriec, to every other fort of food, though it can alfo live on feeds. If offered SULTANA HEN. IQt by faying ^ attached ^vo pretty '^fl and the j9 ^us feems .« liny fays. ! Acade- that has aks only t: Wil- the Por- Jelle the ' ''>'9 exprefs e regard p '^HQ^H /cry day «>JB| jenerous ^ rify in a 4^ the an- his bird le fame de and s poffi- '''''^^^^1 len one which '■M td ends : while calmer '9 roots. m y other m Js. If M offered ^1 offered a fifh, it eagerly feizes it, and devours it greedily. Often it repeatedly ibaks its provi- fions in water. How fmali foever its morfel may be, it conftantly clenches it with its long toes, bending the hind one over the refl, and holding its foot half raifed; it then eat« by crumbs. .- ^ Scarce any bird has more beautiful colours ; the blue of its plumage is foft and gloffy, em- bellifhed with brilliant reflexions -, its long feet, and the plate from the top of its head to the root of its bill, are of a fine red, and a tuft of .white feathers under the tail heightens the luflre of its charming garb. Except that it is rather fmaller, the female differs not from the male, which exceeds the partridge, but is infe- rior to a common hen. The Marquis de Neflc brought this pair from Sicily, where, according to the note which he obligingly communicated •to us, they are known under the name of GaUo- fagiani : they are fo'jnd on the lake Lentini, above Catana, and are fold for a moderate price in that city, as well^as in Syracufe and the ad- jacent towns. They appear alive in the public places, and plant themfelves befide the fellers of vegetables and fruits to pick up the reftife : and this beautiful bird, which the Romans lodg- ed in their temples, now experiences the decline of Italy. That fadl fliows that the Sultana Hens have been naturalized in Sicily from a few pairs of thefe Porphyrions introduced from Africa j m 192 SULTANA HEN. I ■ ' 5) ■^^ Africa j and in all probability this fine fpecics has been propagated, in like manner, in fome other countries ; for we fee from a paiTage of* Gefner, that this naturalift was convinced that thefe birds are found in Spain, and even in the fouth of France. This bird is one of thofc which are by nature moft difpofed to domeftication, and to multiply them ' ould be both agreeable and ufeful. The pair kept in the voleries of the Marquis de Nefle, neftled laft fpring (1778); both male and female laboured in conflrudting the neft ; they placed it at fome height from the ground, on a projedion of the wall, with a heap of flicks and flraws : the eggs were fix in number, white, with a rough fhell, exa(5tly round, and about the dzt of a demi-billiard. The female was not afliduous in covering ; and a common hen was fubflituted, but without fuccefs. We may furely expedl another hatch to be more profpe- rous if carefully attended by the mother herfelf; for this purpofe thefe birds ought to enjoy the calm and retreat which they feck, and efpecially in the feafon of love. ^ . {A] Specific character of thn purple Gallinule, Fuhca Porpoyrio : ■" Its iront is red, many bracelets j its body green, below violet." :...j:;d .»••/• « -» I ' '•" \ *, . • O t I: :- I • f-l»^ - ; *■ r-.-» ' • > v.^ , V "i .' • 1 . rh^d; tv> ilU'l • t 193 ] 4 > • •:.-■>,; -: ' 1-1 4 ] '1 "^-r A BIRD WHICH ARE RELATED TO THE SULTANA HEN. S i 5^ c E the primaty ftbck of the Sultana Hen. inhabits the fouthern regions of our conti- nent, it is not probable that the climates of the Jiorth produce the fecondary fpecies. We muft therefore rejecft the fourth, fifth, fixth, feventh, and eighth fpecies of BrifTon, which he pre- fumes to have the frontal plate, though Gefner, from whom he borrowed the defcriptions, gives no indication of this plate, either in his text or by his figures. The fecond of thefe appears to be a rail, and accordingly we have ranged it in that genus : the four others are water hens, as the original author himfelf fays. With regard to the ninth fpecies of Briflbn, which he calls the Sultana Hen of Hudfons Bay, it ought to be excluded, both on account of the climate, and beeaufe Edwards gives it as a coot, remark- ing at the fame time that it is more akin to the rail. Notwithftanding thefe retrenchments, there ftiil remain three fpecies in the ancient continent, which feem to form the intermediate VOL. VIII, o fhade I '■ .Hi !j« Tl Mi ; 1 i -t li 194 GREEN SULTANA HEN. (hade between the Sultana Hen^, the coots, and the water hens. There arc alfo three fpe- cies in America, which appear the reprefenta- fives, in the new world, of the Sultana Hen and its fubordinate fpecies. * Mr. Forfter foand at Middleburg, one of the Society Iflei* ttets nuith a blutflumagtt which feem to be Sultana Hens. The GREEN SULTANA HEN. FIRST SPECIES. Ftdica riri-tis. Gmel. Gallinula Viridit. Lath. Ind. Porfbyrio Firidis. BrifH Tht Grten GalUnuU, Lath.. Syn. nr* HIS bird is much fmaller than the Sultan$^ •*' and exceeds not a rail. All the upper fide of the body is dull green, but glofly; and all the under fide of the body white, from the cheeks and the throat to the tail : the bill and frontal plate are yellowifh-green. It is found in the Eaft Indies. f >9S 3 The BROWN SULTANA HEN. SECOND SPECIES. Ratlus Pheenicurus, vzr, I, Omel. Callinula Phctuicurat var. i. Lath. ^T^ H I s bird comes from China : it is fifteen ^ or fixteen inches long. It has none of the rich tints that feem peculiar to this genus of birds, and perhaps the fpecimen is a female. All the upper lide of the body is brawn or blackifh cinereous J the belly is rufous j the fore lide of the body, of the neck, and of the throat, and the circle about the eyes, are white ; the frontal plate is fmall, and the bill varies fomewhat from the conical fliape which obtains in the true Sul- tiina J it is longer, and refembles more the bill of the water hens. l\ The A N G O L L THIRD SPECIES. Fulica MaJerafpatana. Gmel. Porphyria Maderafpatantis. Brifl*. Gallinuld Maderafpatana. Lath. Ind. Crex Indlca, Ray. *" The Madras Rail-hen. Id. The Madras Gallinuk. Lach. Syn. 'T~^«is Vird is commonly itt Madras called '*' Caunangoliy which we have Ihortened into Angoli ; the Gentops term it B%dhi-cory. It is 0 2 difficult 196 LITTLE SULTANA HEN. I ' diilicult to determine whether it ought to be referred to the fultanas, the water hens, or even the rails : all that wc know of it is a fliort hint given by Pctiver in his addition to Ray's Sy- noplis ; but this indication, like all the others of that fragment, is formed from drawings fent from Madras, and exprefles not the difcriminat- ing charadlers. Briflbn makes it his tenth fpe- cies of Sultana Hen, and by confequencc pre- fumes that it has the frontal plate, though Pc- tiver never mentions it : on the contrary, he fays, that its bill is (lender, (harp, and longifh ; he applies the names of crake and rail, and he reprefents it as equal in bulk to a goofe. So far it refernbles more the fultana : and this is all that we can fay, till we are better informed. I, I The LITTLE SULTANA HEN. FOURTH SPECIES, FuUca Miv.tinicii, Linn, and Gmel. Porphyria Miner. Briff. Gallinula Martinica. Lath. Ind. The Martinico Gallinule. Lath. Syiir '^T^ii E genus of the Sultana Hen occurs, as we have faid, in the new world j and if the fpecies are not exadly the fame, they are at leaft FAVOURITE. 197 Icaft analogous. The prefcnt is a native of Guiana : it is only fomewhat larger than the water-rail. It rcfcmhles our Suhana Hen fo clofely, that in the whole hiftory of birds there arc few examples of analogies fo intimate be- tween thofe of the two continents. Its back is blueifh green ; and ajl the fore fide of the body is foft violet-blue, which covers alfo the necic and head, affuming a deeper caft. It appears to us to be the fame with what Briflbn makes Jiis fecond fpecies. li The FAVOURITE, FIFTH SPECIES. Fulica Flavirofiris. Gmcl. ' Gallinula Flavirxjiris. Lath. Ind. The Favourite GallinuU. Lath. Syn. rr^ H I s is nearly of the fame fize with the pre-^ ceding, and comes from the fame country. Perhaps it is only the female of the fame fpe- cies, efpecially as the colours are the fame, only more dilute ; the blueifh green of the wings, and the fides of the neck, are faint j brown fliines through on the back and on the tail ; all fhe fore fide of the body is white. I- ( f 198 3 The A C I N T L I. SIXTH SPECIES. n .1 Ftliea Purpurea. Gkiel. Gallinula Purpurea. Lath. Ind. ^achilton, Fernand. Nieremb. Johnft. &e. The Crowing Gallinuk. Lath. Syn. 'T^ HIS Mexican bird, which Briflbn refers to •** our fultana hen, or porphyrion of the an- cients, differs by feveral characters : belides that we can hardly fuppofe that a bird of fuch laborious flight could pafs from the one conti- nent into the other j the toes and feet of the Acintli are not red, but yellow or greenifh ; all its plumage is blackifli purple, intermingled with fome white feathers. Fernandez gives it the names of quachilton zsi^ yacacintli i the lat- ter of wh ch we have adopted, and fhortened. The denomination of avis Jtliquajirini capitis is very expreffive, and (hows that the flat frontal plate is like a large pod, a charader which con- ne(fts this bird with the coots and fultana hens. Fernandez adds, that the Acintli crows like a cock during the night and at the break of day i which might aflford a fufpicion that it belongs not to the genus of the fultana hen, whofe voice bears no refemblance to that of the cock. 8 A bird A C I N T L I. 199 c. refers to ' the an- befidcs 1 of fuch ne conti- et of the snifh; all srmingled 5 gives it ; the lat- hortened. capitis is lat frontal lich con- ana hens, vs like a i of day I belongs ofe voice k. A bird A bird of a fpecies nearly allied to this, if not the fame, is defcribed by Father Feuillee, under the name of ivater hen * ; it has the charader of the fultana, the broad flat efcutcheon on the front J all its attire is blue, except a cowl of black on the head and neck, Feuillee remarks alfo differences of colours between the male and female, which occur not in our fultana hens, in which the female is fmaller than the male, but both perfedly alike in colours. Nature has therefore produced at great dif- tances the fpecies of fultana hens, but always in the fouthern latitudes. Forfter found it in the South Sea ; and the purple water hen which he law at Anamooka appears to be a bird of the fame family. ♦ " The female has its crown deep fulvous ; its mantle of the ** fame colour ; its facings white ; its wings greenifli, mixed with a ** little fulvous ; the quills fky-blue, mixed with a little green : " thefe birds are very lean, and have a difagreeable marihy tafte." Feuillee. [A] Specific charader of the Crowing GalUnule, Fuliea PuT' furea: « It is purple, its bill pale, its feet greeniih-ycllow.'* <3l O 4 4. t 200 3 The COMMON COOT. La Foul<^e. Buf. Ftilica Atra. Linn, and Gmcl. • Fulica. All the Naturaiifts. 'Tp H E fpecies of the Cx)ot commences the ex- •^ tenfive tribe of true aquatic birds. Though its feet are not completely webbed, it lives ha- bitually on the water, and feems even more at- tached to that element than any fowl, except the diver. It is feldom feen on land, and is there fb bewildered and defencelcfs, that it frequently fufFers itfelf to be caught vvith the hand. It fpends the whole day on the pools, which it prefers to the rivers ; and, except in walking from one pool to another, it never fets foot on • The Greek name Is conjeftured, from a pafTagc in Ariftotle, lib. ix. 35, to be aAa^ij; the modern Greeks call it A«(pa: in Latin Fulica or Fulix^ becaufe of its dufky colour ; fuligo, fmoke : hence the Italian Folkga or Follata : on Lago Maggiore Pullon : in Catalonia Folge, Follaga, Galllmfa de Aigiia (water hen) : in Ger- many JVaJfer-houn, Rohr-heunle (reed hen), Tautcberlein (diver) : in Suabia Blefzf Biejftng: in Lower Saxony Zapp : in Switzerland Belch, Belliqtie, Belchifen : in Holland Meer-Coot : in Sweden Blaos- Klaeka : in Denmark Blis-hone, Blas-and, yard-bone : in Poland Zv/?v7, Dzika, or Kacza: in many provinces of France SudcUe\ and in Picardy Blerie. fhore : OT ■*» ces the ex- s. Though it lives ha- ll more at- except the id is there : frequently- hand. It », which it in walking fets foot on igc in Ariftotle, ill it An^a : in ; ftiligo, fmoke : giore Pillion : in hen) : in Ger- berlein (diver) : in Switzerland 1 Sweden Blaos- one : in Poland nee Sudclh ; and THE COMMOiV^ COOT. fhore : I ' COMMON COOT. the sa| interval be confiderable, it has recourfe to its wings, and rifes very high -, but commonly it flies only in the night *. The Coots, like many other water fowl, fee beft in the dufk, and the older ones never feek their food but in the night -f. They lurk among the rufties the greateft part of the day ; and when difturbed in their retreat, they will bury themfelves in the mud rather than fpring. They ieem to make an effort in commencing the mo- tion fo natural to other birds ; and whether on water or on land they rife with difficulty. The young Coots, lefs folitary or circumfped:, are Jfeen at all hours of the day bouncing with fmall leaps out of the water, one fronting another. They fufFer the fowler to approach, yet eye him fteadily ; and they plunge fo nimbly, the inftant they perceive the flafh, that often they elude the fhot. But in autumn, when thefe birds leave the fmall pools and affenible on the lakes, vaft quan- tities ire caught J. For this purpofe, a num- ber of ikiffs are arranged in a line extending the breadth of the lake; this little fleet is rowed ''il • " I never faw it fly during the day but to avoid the fowler ; ** but I have heard it pafs oyer my head at all hours of the night." Ob/ervation of M. IJebert. t According to Salerne, the Coot, when other food fails (and this can feldom happen) dives, and tears up from the bottom of the water the root of a great rulh, which it gives its young to luck. ' X Particularly in Lorraine, on the great pools of Tiaucourt and ^f Indre, forward, 201 COMMON COOT. 'I: m ill forward, and drives the Coots into fome inlet : the birds, then, urged by fear and neceffity, rife at once into the air, and, endeavouring to regain the open water, they pafs over the heads of the fowlers, and receive a general and deftrudtive fire. The fame plan of operation is now con- dudted at the other end of the lake, where thofe which cfcaped have alighted ; and what is An- gular, neither the clamours of the fportfmen, the report of the muikets, the fpe(fl:acle of the range of boats, nor the death of their compa-* nions, can induce thefe birds to betake to dif- tant flight. They do not quit this fcene of car- nage till the night following j and a few linger behind next morning. Thefe indolent birds have defervedly many foes: the moor buzzard fucks their eggs, and plun- ders their young; and to this deftrudtion mufl be imputed the fewnefs of their number, conii- dering that they are very prolific. The Coot lays eighteen or twenty eggs, which are of a dirty white, and almoft as large as a hen's ; and if the firft hatch be deftroyed, the mother has often a fecond, of ten or twelve eggs *. She builds in deluged fpots covered with dry reeds: fhe feleds a tuft, on which fhe raifes a ftrudture above the level of the water, and lines the ca- vity with little dry herbs and tops of reeds, forming a large fhapelefs neil, diftinguifhablc at * Obfervation of M. Baillon. a dif- COMMONCOOT. ao3 si diftance *. She fits twenty-two or twenty- three days, and as foon as the young are hatched they jump out of the neft, and never return again. The mother cherifhes them under her wings, and they flcep round her beneath the reeds : fhe leads them to the water, in which they fwim and dive well, from the moment of their birth. They are coveied at fir ft with a fmoky black down, and look very ugly ; only the trace is to be fee it » - white plate c :t- tined to ornament their front. It is then that the bird of prey aflails them fo cruelly, and often devours the dam and her brood -f*. The old Coots, which have repeatedly loft their callow offspring, grow cautious from misfortune, and conceal their nefts among the flags on the mar- gin of the pools 5 and keep together their young among thefe thick coverts. Thefe alone perpe- tuate the fpecies ; for fo great is the depopula- tion of the reft, that a good obferver, who has particularly ftudied the ceconomy of the Coots :{:, reckons that not above one-tenth efcape the talons of the birds of prey, particularly thofe of the moor buzzard. • There is little probability that the Coot, as Saleme alledges, makes two nefts, one for hatching, and another for lodging her young. What may have given rife to this notion is, that the brood, after they have once quitted the neft, never return to it, but fquat with their mother among the ruflies. f The fame Saleme pretends, that the Coot defends itfelf againft the bird of prey, by prefenting its talons, which arc, indeed, pretty iharp: but this feeble rcMance muft generally be of little avail. Z M. Baillon, The ^ 204 COMMON COOT, I : The Coots breed early in the fpring, and cgg$ are found in their body as foon as the end of winter *. They refide on our pools the greateft part of the year, and in fome places they are permanent iettlers -f-. Yet in autumn they all leave the fmail pools, and refort tp the large ones, where they aflemble in a great flock; there they often remain till December; and when the fnows, and efpecially the frofts, drive theni from the high and chill trads, they de- fcend into the plains, which enjoy a milder tem- perature ; and the want of water, rather than the pold, conflruins them to fhift their haunts. M. Hebert law them in a very fevere winter on the Jake of Nantua, which is late in freezing : he faw them alfp in the plains of Brie, though in fmaU numbers, in the depth of winter. But, moft probably, the bulk qf the fpecies remove by degrees to the adjacent countries, which arc warmer: for, as their flight is laborious and tardy, they cannot journey to any great diflance; and indeed they appear again as e^rly as Fe- bruary. The Coots are fpread through the whole of Europe, from Italy to Sweden : they are found, too, in AfiaJ. They occur in Greenland, if Egede rightly tranflates two words in the Ian- l^'M • Belon. f As in Lower Picardy> according to the obferyations of M, Baiiton. X Lettres Edifiantes, thirtieth coUeSiitn^p. 317. guagc COMMON COOT. ios bfervations of M. guage of the natives, by the great and little Coot *. In faft, the fpecies conlifts of two fa- milies, which live in the iame lake without ever cohabiting, and are diflinguiflied from each other folely by their bulk, and not by the colour of the frontal plate, as feme pretend ; for in both that is uHially white, and becomes red only in the feafon of love. This thick naked membrane, which covers the fore fide of the head like an efcutcheon, and which made the ancients give the Coot the epithet of l^rJJ, feems to be a production of the upper layer of the fubftance of the bill, which is foft, and almoft flefhy near the root. The bill is fafhioned into a flat cone at the fides, and is bluifh white ; when in the feafon of courtfliip, the frontal plate affumes its vermilion tint. All the plumage is furnifhed with a thick down, covered with delicate clofe feathers ; it is of a leaden-black, full and deep on the head and neck, with a white ftreak on the fold of the wing: no difference indicates the fex. The Coot is as large as a domeftic hen, and its head and body are nearly of the fame form : its toes are half-webbed, fringed fully on both fides with a membrane, fcalloped into fefloons, whofe knots correfpond to the joints of th^ phalanges : thefe .membranes are, like the feet, of a leaden colour : above the knee a fmall portion of the naked leg is circled with red : the thighs are * Navia and Naviaiur/oak^ thick 206 COMMON COOT. 3 ; t'' It thick and flcfhy. Thefe birds have a gizzard, two large cceca, and a capacious gall-bladder *. They live chiefly, as well as the water-hens, on aquatic infedts, fmall fifli, and leeclies ; yet they alfo gather feeds, and fwallow pebbles : their flefh is black, lean, and has a flight marfhy tafle. In the flate of liberty, the Coot has two dif- ferent cries, the one broken, the other drawl- ing: it is the latter, no doubt, from which Ara- tus draws a prognoftic -f- ; for the former is re- prefented by Pliny as boding ftorms J. But captivity feems to difpirit and opprels it fo much, that it lofes its voice, and would feem abfolutely mute. • Belon. f Hauii moMcos tremulo fundens e guttttre cant us. Apud Ciccr. lib. i. De Nat. Deor. X Et fulica matutiao clangere temfejiatetn. lib. xviii. 35. [A] Specific charafter of the Common Qooi,Fulica Atra : "Its *• front is flefti-coloured, its bracelets yellow, its body blackifh." The Coots remain the whole year in Great Britain. They are found alfo in North America : on the rivers in Carolina they are called. ^uj?ereri. The favages, near the falls of the Niagara, drefs their fkins for pouches. 1' ■. 'J ■'^i r i ft; tl; li'f t 107 ) The GREATER COOT. La Macroule, ou Grande Foulque. Buff. I Fulica Attrrima. Linn, and Gmcl. fuUca Major. WiH. Ray, and Brifl*. AL L that we have faid of the common Goot (morelle) applies to the Greater Coot (ma^ eroulej; their habits and their fhapes are the fame, only the latter is rather larger than th»i former, and the bald fpace on the front is alfo broader. One of thefe birds, taken in March 1 779, near Montbard, among the vines, whither it had been driven by a violent wind, afforded me an opportunity, for the fpace of a month, during which it was kept alive, of making the following obfervations. It refufed, at firft, all forts of dreffed food, bread, cheefe, and flefii, raw or boiled: it rejected alfo earth-worms and young frogs, whether dead or alive. It required to be crammed with gobbets of foaked bread. It was extremely fond of a tray full of water, and would repofe whole hours in it. It fought alfo to hide itfelf J though it was not wild, and fufFered itfelf to be laid hold of, only pecking, with a few ftrokcs, the hand that was about to feize it, and . thefe ao8 GREATER COOT. thefc fo feeble, cither becaufc of the foftnefs of the bill, or the weaknefs of the mufcles, as hardly to make any impreflion on the fkin : it betrayed neither anger nor impatience; it made no endeavour to efcape, and fhewed no furprize or fear. But this ftupid tranquillity, this total want of vigour and coUfage, proceeded probably from its bewildered condition, remote from its proper clement and its ufual habits. It fccmed deaf and mute ; any noife made clofe to its ear never moved it, or drew the lead in- clination of its head ; and though it was often purfued and teazed, it never vented the fmalleft cry. We have the water-hen equally mute in captivity. The mifery of ilavery is greater than is fuppofed, fince it fometimes bereaves its un* happy vidims of even the power of com- plaining. [A] Specific charadler of the Greater Coot, Fulica Atenima: ** Its front is white, its bracelets red, its body blackiih." 'if •'• h' ^^vS ,v,r fj'Jj! The CRESTED COOT. ^ La Grande Foulq^je ^a Crete. Bujf, \} . ; . • FM/ka Crifiata. Gmel. . - • • • , < • . , T N this Coot, the flefhy plate on the front is '*• raifed and detached in two ftireds, which form a real comb. It is befides confiderably larger than the preceding fpecies, which it x- adtly refembles in its ihape and plumage. It was fent to us from Madagafcar. May it not be really the fame with the European, only ex- panded by the influence of a hotter and more adive climate? The P H A L A R O P E S. ' " . '\ ■ • PI* D w A R D s was the firft • who introduced ^■^ this genus of fmall birds, which, with the bulk and almoft the fhape of the fandpiper, have feet like thofe of the coot. From this ar<*' jgy, Briflbn terms them Phalaropes* -, while Ed« wards, refting on their more obvioui appear- ance, is contented with the name T/mga. They are, indeed, little fnipes or fandpipers, on which ♦ From ♦«x«g,j, which is probably the Greek for the coot; fed ««ft the foot. VOL. VIII, nature i if 210 CINEREOUS PHALAROPE. nature has beflowcd the feet of the coot. They ieem to belong to the northern countries : thofb figured by Edwardf came from Hudfon's Bay, and we received fome from Siberia. But whe- ther they migrate or flray, they are fometimes feen in England; for Edwards mentions one which was killed in winter in Yorkfliire. He defcribes four different birds, which may be reduced to three fpecies. The CINEREOUS PHA- L A R O P E. ]i ' ''^'M f I R S r SPECIES, Tringa Hyperborea^ maf. Lmn. and Gmel. Phalaropus Cinereus. 7nnga Fufca. Gmel. Phalaropus Fu/cus. Lath. Ind. Phataropat. Briff. The Coot-fottedTringa. Edw. The Mro-un Phaiarefe. P?nn. and Lath, T T is eight inches long from the bill to the tail, which projedts not beyond the wings : iti bill is (lender, flattened horizontally^ thirteen inches long, ilightly fwelled and bent near the pdifit ; m feet are deep fringed, like thofe of the coot, with a membrane in feiloons, whofe knots correfpond alfo to the articulations of the toes : 4 *he bPE. x)t. They tries: tho(b dfon's Bay, But whc- fometimes :ntions one :(hire. He :h may be i RED PHALAROPE. 211 the upper furface of the head, neck, and body, is gray, waved gently on the back with brown and blackifh: it has a white neck-piece, in- clofed by an orange rufous line ; below it, the neck is encircled with gray, and all the under fide of the body is white. Willughby fays, that he was informed by Dr. Johnfon, that this bird has the fhrill clamorous voice of the fea- fwallows : but he did wrong to range it with thefe fwallows, efpecially as he remarked its ana- logy to the coot. PHA- I. bill to thd the wings: lly^ thirteen nt near the Lhofe of the vhofe knots if the toes s the The RED PHALAROPE. SECOND S P £ C I JS S, Tringa Fulicaria. Linn, and Gmel. Phalaropus Hyperboreus, fem. Lath. Ind. Phalarepus Rufefcens. BrilT. I'he Red Coot-footed Tringa. Edw. np H E fore fide of the neck, the breaft, and the *■- belly, are brick -coloured; the throat ru- fous brown, fpotted with blackifh; the bill is quire ftraight, like that of the fandpiper ; the toes fringed with broad membranous feftoons : it is rather larger than the preceding, being equal to a kingiilher. P Z ■Mi C aia ] The PHALAROPE Indented Festoons. with THIRD SPECIES. Tringa Lobata. Linn, and Gmel. Phalaroptts Lohatus, Lath. Ind. Phalaropus. Briff. 7he Gray Coot-footed Tringa. Edw. The Gray Phalarope. Penn. and Lath. 'T^ H E fcalloped feftoons, which were fmooth •*• in the preceding, are here delicately in- dented on the edges; and this character fuffi- ciently difcriminates it. Like the firfl fpecies, it has its bill flattened horizontally, a little in- flated near the point, and hollowed above by two grooves; its eyes are a little drawn to- wards the back of its head, whofe top bears a blackifh fpot, the reft being white, which is the colour of the whole of the fore fide and un- der lide of the body : the upper fide is flaty-gray, with tints of brown, and obfcure longitudinal fpots. It is of the fize of the jack fnipe. ■!■: i ! I a»3 3 i with ere fmooth ;licately in- radter fuffi- irfl fpecies, a little in- i above by drawn to- top bears a 2, which is ide and un- > flaty-gray, longitudinal fnipe. The GREBE. FIRST S P E C I £ S. Colymhut Vrinator. Linn, and Gmel. Colymbus. Brifl*. Colymbus Major. AlJrov. Will Ray, Johnft. &e. Thi Greater Loon, or Arfefoot, Will. The Greater Dobchfck. Edw. The Tippet Grebe, Penn. and JLath.* 'TT^he Grebe is well known by thofe beauti« '*' ful iilvery white muffs, which have the foft clofenefs of down, the eladicity of fea-r thers, and the luftre of filk. Its undreiTed plumage, particularly that of the breaft, is really a fine down, very clofe and firm, and regularly difpofed, whofe gliftening filaments lie upon each other, and join, fo as to form a glafly, fliining furface, equally impenetrable by cold or humidity. This clothing, fo well adapted to the rigours of feafon and of climate, was necef- fary to the Grebe, which in the fevereft win* ters remains conftantly in the water, like the divers; infomuch that it has often been con-^ founded with them under th^ common name colymbus -f, But the Grebes differ eflentially from the diverp, which have their toes cbm- * In Italian Smergo, Fi/olo Marino : in German Dtucchtl, f Froin K^hv^^Ktif to ^9 into tht v ' f Schwenckfeld. -L. • .> , ' ; t Idem. i The little and crefled Girdbes, according to M. Baillon. II Gefner. P 4 fonjiewhat S r 2l6 GREBE. , I i I • ,f(. ••^ i -til '*■ fomewhat difproportioned to the body. The bird rifes with difficulty, but after it has caught the wind, it flies far *. Its voice is loud and rough -f*. Its leg, or rather its tarfus, is wi- dened and flattened laterally ji the fcales with which it h (ioveired form on the hind part a double indenting; the nails are broad and flat: the tail is wanting in all the grebes, but they hive on the rum j) the tubercles, in which the tail^cfuills are ufually inferted, but thefe tuber- cles are fmaller than in . other birds> - and only bear a tuft of fmall feathers, i >' .' r-; .riior.. ' Thefe birds are commonly very fat : not only they feed their young with little fifties, they eat fea- weed and other plants J, and fwallowmud§. White feathers too are often found in their fto- mach; not that they devour birds, they catch the down which plays on the water, miilaking it for a fmall flOi. It is moft probable that the Grebes, like the cormorants, caft up the refidue of digeftion ; at leaft fifh-bones are found rolled into pellets and unaltered at the bottom of the ventricle. ■ ' -•:, - . j -- The fifliers of Picardy refort to the EngUfli coaft in fearch of the Grebes' nefts, fince they do not breed on that of France || ; and they find thefe in the holes of rocks, into which the birds • waiughby. f Gefner and Beloi^. J Willughby. § Schwenckfeld. II Obfervations of M' ^aillon. \V prpbj^bly m GREBE. ai7 probably fly, fince they cannot climb, and whence' the young muft throw themfelves into the fea, But on our large pools they build with reeds and rufhes interwoven, and the nefl is half dipped in the water, though not entirely afloat, as Linnaeus aiTerts, but ihut and attached to the reeds *. It commonly contains two eggs, fel- dom three. Againfl: the month of June the young neftlings are feen fwimming with their dam -)•; ' •-' -^ The genus of thefe birds confifls of two fa-* milies difl^ering in lize. To the large fort we ihall appropriate the name ^rf^^j,andto the fmall, that of chefnuts (caflagneux) : this divifion is natural and ancient, and feems to be indicated by Athenaeus under th terms colymbis and colym^ bida; fince to the lat r he conftantly joins the epithet of liitle. The. z is however conliderable variety in regard to lize. . . ^ 1 t< iijj \^. 1* * Obfervations of M. Lottlnger, ... + Idem, • , ■ • [A] Specific charafter of the Tippet Grebe, ColymhusUrinator : ** Its head is fmooth, its lower eye-lid yellow, a white fpot on the ** wings." The Grebes are very attentive in feeding their young, and will even carry them when tired on their back or under their wings. Their flefh is rank, but their fat is fuppofed to have great virtue in rheumatic complaints. On (he lake of Geneva, thefe birds appear in fmall flocks of ten or twelve : they fell fourteen (hillings a-piece. The fkin, with the beautiful plumage on the under fide of the body, is made into mi#s and tippeti. This fpecies is rare ia ^ngl^nd. ' C «f ) h.-: - • » T t ■ i. J.. J ■.. . i( ' I ; . ... ij V .. , > f. < > ,< . I ■; ^'-Colymbus Mimr. Brifll . - jf?^.. . ., , , ^ 7ht Black ami Wbitt Debebick. Edw. ^.-.r- _;^ ^. The JVhite and Dujiy Gnbt. Pcnn. ' Tbt Dujky Grebt. Lath. Syn, :f!' *■ ,J- 'Tp H 1 s is fmaller than the preceding, which ^ is almoft their only difference. But if that be conflant, they ought to be difcriminated ; ef« pecially iince the little Grebe is known in the channel, and inhabits the fea-coaft, whereas the great Grebe occurs more frequently in fre(h waters. . r < ■>i. [A] Specific charaAer of the Ctljmbus Ob/curus : " Its head " is fmooth ; its front, the under fide of its body, and the tips of it« <* fecondary wing-quills, white." h'm' .-'Mi. r V ■ - ; J •^ irj"K' '« ,Dix) ail" 'iU .■>:r. e. ■h. I ttKiii :>■,/ I ,. J 1 ' i .' \ r." • J n' vhich f that in tho as the freOl i> Its head ips of it« m jv:2n !| «- .»! M'HB CRESTED GKEBE. t; t1 I «»9 ] •Jl 1$. J sir The CRESTED GREBE. THIRD SPECIES, Colymbuj Criftatus. Ginel. and Briflf. Pidictps Criftafus, I^ath. Ind. Colymbus Major, Crijlatus ^ Cornutus. Aid. Gcfa. &C. j4citli. Hernandez. *I'he Greater Crefied and Horned Duckcr. Alb. and Plot. The Car Goo/e. Charlcton. The Gray or AJh-colourcd Loon. Will. The Great Crejled Grebt. Pcnn. and Lath. 'T^HE feathers on the crown of the head ex- ^ tend a little behind, and form a fort of creft, wh'ch it raifes or deprefTes according as it is tranquil or difcompofed. It is larger thao the common grebe, being at leaft two feet from the bill to the nails : but it differs not in its plumage j all t;:e fore fide of the body being of a fine filvery white, the upper fide blackifh brown, with a little white on the wings. — Thefe colours compofe the general livery of the grebes. It appears from comparing the indications of ornithologifls, that the Crefted Grebe inhabits equally feas and lakes, the coalls on the Medi- terranean, and thofe wafhed by the Atlantic. The fpecics occurs even in North America, and is the -^f////, which Hernandez fays frequents the lake of Mexico. It has been remarked, that the Grebes of this fpecics, and probably it is the fame wir'i the others. At \ t '. 3, .A I • i .■!;' i» y m :1 Ja*'' ;? 'I!! *:i ■'4 1 ■■ :i!^ t I ; I i ^'J\ I ' ( 320 LITTLE CRESTED GREBE. others, atquirc not till after moulting their fine fatin white. The iris, which is always very brilliant and rcddiHi, becomes inflamed, and aHumes a ruby tint, in the feafon of love. This bird is faid to deftroy numbers of young whit- ings and fturgeons' fry, and, when in want of other food, to eat fhrimps *. * Obfervations made in the Channel* by M> Biulloni of Mon« treuiUfur-mer. [A] Specific charafler of the Crelled Grebe* Colymbus Crijlam tus : ** Its head is rufous, its neck black, its fecondarjr wing-quill« *' white." Thefe birds are frequent in the fens of Lincolnfhire, and on the meres of Shropihire* ^hefhire, and Sta^ordlhirc, where they breed. Their fkins are made into tippets equally valuable with thofe from Geneva. Mr. Latham reckons the Crefled Grebe to be the adult* and the Tippet Grebe the young bird of the year's liatch, i \l u . I! i 'U Ji U it The LITTLE CRESTED GREBE, FOURTH SPECIES, Colymbus Auritus, Gmel. > Podiceps Auritus. Lath. Ind, , ; ^ the Bared Dohchick. Edw. ' ' ' The Eared Qrthe, Penn. and Lath, 'T^His Grebe is not larger than a teal, and differs from the preceding not only in fizc, but alfo becaufe the feathers on the crown pf the head, which compofe the crcfl, arc parted into two tufts, and that fpots of chefnut-brown mix with the white on the fpre fide of the neck. With HORNED GREBE. lax With refpedt to the identity iuppofed by BrifTon between this Ipecies and " the greater a(h-co- " loured ducker" of Willughby, it is difficult to decide ; fince that naturalifl and Ray form their defcription merely from a drawing of Brown's. ' [A] Specific charaAer of the Colymius Auritut : '* Iti hs*d i$ « black* crefted with ferruginous ears." ■+fi .] M m -Si I The' HORNED GREBE. FIFTH SPECIES. > • ' * ■ » Coljmbut Cornutus, Gmel. Podiceps Cernutus, Lath. The Eared or Horned Dohchick. Ed«r. ^nr^ H I s Grebe has a black tuft, divided behind ^ as it were into two horns j it has alfo \ fort of mane, rufous at the root, black at the point, cut round the neck ; which gives it a very odd look, and makes it to be regarded as a monflrousfpecies. It is rather larger than the common grebe ; its plumage is the fame, except the mane and the flanks, which are rufous. This Horned Grebe feems to be extenfively fpread : it is known in Italy, in Switzerland, in Geraiany, in Poland, in Holland, and in Eng- land, As it is of a very Angular figure, it has been every where remarked, Fernandez de- fcribes " li ' 'u M % tas LITTLE HORNED OREBE. 1 M,:4 s ['ff ' i ' < 1 li li !• .M !|! i:'« 111 ' M icribes with accuracy one found in Mexico ; and adds, that it is called the water hare^ but does not affign the reafon, ' ( A j Speci/ic chan !ler of the Colymhus Cornutus : ** Its head it ** olofly-green^ with a yellow bar at its eye, extended behind like « a creft.'» The LITTLE HORNED GREBE. SIXTH SPECIES. Podieeps Cornutus y var. Lath. Colj/mbus Cornutus Minor, BrifT. 'Tp H E R B is the fame difference with regard to '* bulk between the two horned grebes as between the two crefted grebes. The little Horned Grebe has two pencils of feathers, which growing out from behind the eyes, form its hornS of an orange rufous : this is alfo the colour of the fore fide of the neck and of the flanks j the top of the neck is clothed with puffed feathers^ not broken, however, or interfec^ed by a ridge ; thefe feathers are brown tinged with greenilh, and fo is the upper fide of the head : Jhe man- tle is brown, and the breafl filvery white, as in the other grebes. It is of this in particular that the nefl is faid by Linnaeus to float on the ^vater : he adds, that it lays four or five eggs, and that the female is entirely gray *. • Fauna Sued ca, N» 123. It BLACK. BREASTED GREBE. 12] It IS known in moft countries of Europe, whether maritime or inland. Edwards received it from Hudfon's Bay *, But its being found in North America is no reafon why BrifloA fhould infer that it is the fame with the Yaca* pitzdhoac of Fernandez ; which indeed appears to be a grebe, but is not fufHciently chara^e- rized. With regard to the Trapazorola of Gefner, as likewife of BrifTon, it is mofl proba* bly a chefnut I at leaft it is not a horned grebe, lince Gefner exprefsly mentions its having no creft. * We will not helitate to refer the Eared Doicbick of that fame nataralift, notwithflanding fome differences in dimenfions, to the Little Horned Grebe. The BLACK-BREASTED GREBE. Le Grebe Duc-laart. Buff. S E FE NT H SPECIES, Colymbus Thomenjis. Gmel. Podiceps Thomtnjis. Lath. Coljmbus Infula St. Thma. Briff. THIS Grebe is called the laart duck in the ifland of St. Thomas, where Father Feu- illee obferved and defcribed it. What diflin^ guifhes it mofl, is a black fpot in the midil of its I 1: ;]!■- r i r ■ V tm-mm Km ! ill 124 LOUISIANA GR£BE. its fine white breaft-plate, and the colouf of its wings, which is pale rufous. It is as large, he tells us> as a pullet : he remarks alfo^ that the point of its bill is flightly curved, a property which belongs equally to the following fpecies *. 'U\ >' • Thus defcribed by Briflbn : «« Above, dull brown ; below, •* white, variegated with gray fpots ; a bright white fpot on eithex^ " fide between the bill and the eye ; a black fpot on the middle of •« the breaft; the wing-quilk pale rufous.** - ;' ^ / . The LOUISIANA GREBE. EIGHTH SPECIES. Colymbus Ludomicianus, Gmel. Podiceps Ludoniicianus. Lath. . l "D E s I D E s that its bill has a gentle curvature "■"^ at the tip, its bread: is entirely white; its flanks are deeply ftained with brown and black- i(h, and the fore fide of its neck blackiih. It is fmaller than the common grebe. £ A] Specific charafler of the Colymbus Ludavicianus : ** It* «< head is fmooth and brown, its body brown, its fides ferruginous, ♦« tlie middle of its breall white." [ 225 3 The RED-NECKED GREBE. Le JOUGRIS*. Buff, NINTH SPECIES: Colymbus Rubricollis. J p «J Colymbus Subcrijlatus, , j fodiceps 'Rubricollis. Lath. ^np H E cheeks and chin are gray ; the fore fide of the neck is rufous, and the upper iuffade dark brown. It is nearly as large as ihe horned grebe. • i. e. Joiies Grifes, oir Cray Cheeks, The GREAT GREBE. r E N t k SPECIES. Colymbus Cayennenjis. Gmel. Podiceps Cayanus. Lath. Ind. 7hs Cayenne Grebe. Lath. Syn; 'T^ H E epithet great is due more to the length of its neck than to the bulk of its body : its hea4 is raifed three or four inches higher than that of the common grebe. Its upper VOL. 71 II. Q^ furface 'HJ r f \ . I., ,:* I' ii I \1 I '■M ',1 I \ il ! !<■ \ ..I I'M f I 226 GREAT GREBE. furface is brown; the fore fide of its body rufous brown, which extends alfo on the flanks, and (hades the white of the bread. It is found in Cayenne. From the enumeration we have made, it appears, that the fpecies of Grebes are difFufed through both continents ; they feem difperfcd from pole to pole. The Kaarfaak * and the Efaroki*fok of the Greenlanders are probably grebes : and in the antardtic regions, M. Bou^ gainville found, at the Malouine iflands, two birds which appear to belong to this genus ra- ther than to the divers -j-. i -4 m ■ -^ [A] Specific chzruSier of the Co/jmius Caye»}ie»J:s : " Its head " is fmooth, its throat rufous, its brcall and belly ^liite." * " The bird which the Greenlanders call kaarfaah, exprefling *« its cry by that name, is a fort of colymbus : according to them, " it foretells rain or fine weather, according as its tone of voice i.i ** hoarfe and rapid, or foft and lengthened out. They alio call it " the j'ummer bird, becaufe its appearance announces that joyous " feafon. The female lays near pools of frefli water, and it is pre- " tended that flie is fo much attached to her brood as to fit even " when the place is overflowed." Hiji. Gen. des Voyages, torn. xix. /. 45. The Greenland duck ijoitb a pcintcd bill, and a tuft on its head, mentioned by Crantz, aj^pcars alfo to be a grebe. See ibid. P- 43- f " In the Malouine iflands there are two fpecies of fmall di- « vers ; the one has its back of an afh-colour, and its belly white; *' the feathers of the belly are fo filky, fo brilliant, and fo clofe, thaj " we took it for the grebe, which furnifhes the materials of pre- " cious muffs : this fpecies is rare. The other, more common, is *' entirely brown, having its belly fomewhat lighter than its back j " its !»,:'! Ill' GREBE. 2217 •« its eyes are like rubiesj and thcit- \Vonderful vivacity is height- *' ened by the contraft with a circle of white feathers that furround " them, and which has given occafion to the name oi/pedacU diver, *' It has two young, too delicate no doubt to bear the coolnefs of •* the water when they are clothed only with down, for the mother ** then carries them on her back. Thefe two fpecies have not their *• feet palmated, like other water fowl ; their toes are parted, and " furnifhed on each fide with a Very ftrong membrane ; in this " ftate, each toe refembles a leaf rounded towards the nail, and the " more fo, as from the toe lines proceed to terminate in the extre- ** mity of the membranes, and as the whole has the green colour of « leaves, without much thicknefs."— ^oyog-e autour ttu Monde, ^mr 4k Bou^aiaville, torn. ii. /. 1 171 1 18« W' I «« Its ! St. DOMINGO C H E S N U T. 231 at the bafe of the lower mandible j its plumage is entirely brown, deep on the head and neck, light and grceniih on the breaft. It is found on pools of frefh water, in the fettled parts of Carolina. The St. DOMINGO . H E S- NUT. FOURTH SPECIES, jColymbus Dominicus, Linn, and Gmel. ♦ Podiceps Dominic us. Lath. Ind. Colymbus Flwviatilis Dominicenjis. Brifl*. The Tiuopenny Chick. Hughes Barbadoes. -. The White-'winged Grebe. Lath. Syn. npHis is fmaller than the European Chel- ^ nut; its length, from the bill to the tail, fcarce feven inches and a half; it is blackifli on the body, and filvery light gray, fpotted with brown, below. f? Q.4 ^, 1^^^_ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 ^tes, u& I itt Ui 12.2 1.1 ^ U& 1 20 il.8 |I25 iy4U4 Photographic Sciences Corporalion 23 WIST MAM STMIT WnSTII,N.Y. UStO (7l«)t71-4S03 ^^^-T'^'^ ^V^ V \ ^ % 6^ |E» I ! I i}ii I *3» ^ ' ■ ' . I J » , / . J . ^ . . ..:.>; ■'.:). .,i i'."^-» ... The COOT-GREBE, ♦ I . -' ■-.'■ -i FIFTH SPECIES. ' i . . . ■■ ■■ NATURE never proceeds by ftarts : fhe fills up all th6 interyals, arid c6nne<^$ remqlfe objeds, by a chain of intermediate productions. The Coot-Grebe, hitherto unknown, is related to both thefe^f«^r<2 of birds. Jits tail is pretty broad and its wings long ; all its upper furfece i^ olive brown, and all the fore fide of the body is a very fine white ; the toes knd their webs are barred traniyerfcly with black and white or yel- lov^ flripes, which produces an agreeable eiFedt, It was fent to us from Cayenne, and i^ as l^nall ^s oiir chefhut. ' " ' ' ' ' ' '' ' ' • , 'tjiJ:. ;:ri: : ^«l :a^ [ 233 ] {'>j \.- ''}l i:i . ;■ » t r, The DIVE R Sn Le Plongeons. Buff. ■J \' i npHOUGH many aquatic birds dive even to T the bottom of the water in purfuit of their prey, the name of Diver has been appropriated to a fmall family, diftinguifhed from the reft by their ftrait pointed bill, and their three fore toes connedled together by an entire membrane, which throws a hem along the inner toe, from which the hind one is parted : their nails are alfo fmall and pointed; their tail is extremely fhort, and fcarce vifible; their feet are very flat, and placed quite behind the body ; laftly, their leg is concealed in the lovyer belly, a difpofi- tion well adapted for fwimming, but almoft in- compatible with walking. In fadt, the Divers, when on land, are obliged, like the grebes, to ftand eredl, and cannot maintain their balance : but in the water their motions are fo nimble and prompt, that, the inftant they perceive the flafh of a gun, they plunge and efcape the ball •}-, • The gereral name of the Diver i 1 Greek, is A»6«;a : in Latin Mergus : in" HebreW a!nd Periian Kaatb : in Arabic Semag : in Ita- lian MergOf Mer^one: in German D'ucher, Duchen*,Taucher. t ** The Divers of Louifiana are the fame with ours, and when «* they fee the fire of the touch-pan, they dive fo nimbly, that the i^ lead cannot hit them; for which reafon they are called lead- ** eaterti'* he Page Dupratz, Hi^. tft la Louifiane, torn. ii. p. 1 1 5. Accordingly, u I ! I i hi J ; I 234 GREAT DIVER. Accordingly, expert fowlers faften a bit of paftc- board to their piece, in fuch manner as to leave the aim free, and yet fcreen from the bird the gleam of. the priming. ■ i We know five fpecies of Divers, two of which, a greater and a lefler, occur equally on the frefti waters of inland countries, and on the fait flood near the fea-fhore : The three other fpecies feem to be attached wholly to the coafls, particularly in the north. The GREAT DIVER, \ ,1 FIRST SPECIES. Colymlus Immer. Linn, and Gmel. Mergus Major. BrilT. Colymbus Maximus. Gefn. Aldrov. Ray, Johnfl. and KIein« The Imier Diver. Lath. ,. i ;, * w ■■■ t M 'H 'Tp HIS Diver is air '^ as large and as tall as the goofe. It i- .^nown on th*^ lakes of Switzerland ; and the name Fluder, which it re- ceives on that of Conftance, alludes, according to Gefner's remark, to its laborious motion on land, ftruggling at once with its wings and its feet. It never rifes but from the water ; and in that element its motions are as oafy as they are rapid. ]^213 •TI/E lA^rUEK. :i:^ If 1!; i 1 I 1^1, ! i,-: I r: *v •> 1 Ill p '•'ll : • 1 GREAT DIVER. '35 rapid. It dives to very great depths, and fwims under water to the diftance of an hundred paces without emerging to tike breath : a portion of air included in its dilated wind-pipe fupplies its rcfpiration during this interval. The ^me is the cafe with other divers and grebes; they glide through the water freely in all directions j in it they find their food, their fhelter, their afylum: w^hen the bird of prey hovers above them, or the fowler appears on the fhore, they plunge for fafety. But man, ftill more formida- ble by his addrefs than by his ftrength, prepares fnares for them, even in the bottom of their re- treat : a net or a line baited with a fmall fifh* allures the unwary bird ; it fwaJlows deat^ with the repaft, and perifhes in that element where it received birth ; for its neft is placed on the water amidft the tall rufhes. Ariftotle juftly obferves, that the Divers be- gin to breed in early fpring, and that the gulls do not breed till the end of that feafon, or the beginning of fummer *. But Pliny, who often merely copies the philofopher, has here injudi- cioufly contradicted him, by employing the name Mergtis to fignify an aquatic bird which neftles in trees -f* ; a property which belongs to I- ill j;,i; fS i 4;. • Hill. Animal, lih. v. g. f Mergi y in arboribus pariunt, lib. x. 32. He lilcewife confounds the Diver with certain gulls, when he attributes to it the habit of devouring the excrements of other birds. Mergi Joliti/unt devorarc i^ute cetera redduntt lib. x. 47. the ji^f' .T W J 33^ GREAT DIVER; the cormorant and fome other aquatic birds, but which has no relation to the Divers, fince they neftle at the foot of ruflies. • Some obfervers have aflerted that the Great Diver was very filent : yet Gefner afcribes to it a lingular and loud cry; but probably this is fel- dom heard. Willughby feems to admit a variety, in which the back is of an uniform colour; whereas, in the ordinary kind, the upper furface is waved with light gray on a brown gray, and this brown, clouded and dotted with whiti(h, ap- pears on the upper tide of the head and neck, which is befides ornamented below by a half collar tinged with the fame colours, terminated with line white on the breaft and the under lide of the body. [A] Specific charafterof the Colymbus Immer : ** Its body is ** blacklfh above, waved with white, below entirely white." ha Wi mi ■-•.<■'. . , ; ) t 237 ] The LITTLE DIVER. SECOND SPECIES, Colymbut Stellatus. Gmel. Colymbus Maximus Caudatut* Will. Mergus Minor. BrifT. ,.' . The Speckled Loon. Alb. The Speckled Diver, Penn. and Lath. 'T^His Diver refembles the preceding in Its ^ colours, and has hkewife all the fore fide of its body white: its back, and the upper fide of its neck and head, are blackilh-cinereous, entirely fprinkled with little white drops. The largeft of this kind meafure at the utmofl a foot nine inches from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail, and two feet to the extremity of the toes, and the alar extent is two feet and yri half; whereas the preceding fpecies is two feel and an half from the bill to the nails, and four feet acrofs the wings. Their natural habits are nearly the fame. The Little Divers are feen at all times on our pools, vi^hich they do not quit till the ice obliges them to flit to the rivers and brooks of running Water : they depart in the night-time, and re- move as little as pofllble from their former haunts. It was remarked, even in the time of Ariftotle, 11 A ^ M m 2z9 S E A-C AT DIVER. Ariftotle, that they did not difappear in winter*. That philofopher alfo fays, that they lay two or three eggs : but our fportfmen make them to lay three or four, and fay, that when a perfon ap- proaches the neft, the mother plunges into the water, and that the young ones juft hatched throw themfelves after her. The fwimming and diving of thefe birds are always attended with noife, and with a very quick agitation of their wings and tail. The motion of their feet impels them forward, not in the line of their body, but fidewife in the diagonal. M. Hebert obferved this in a captive Diver, which being held by a long ftring, took always that direc- tion : it appeared to have loft nothing of its na- tural liberty : it was kept on a river, where it lived by catching fmall fi(h. ^ ^ • Hift. Animal. li&. v. 9. [A] The fpeckfed Diver lays its eggs near the verge of mari- time lakes : they are oval, dufky with fome black fpots, and as large as thofe of a goofe. The SEA-CAT DIVER. THIRD SPECIES, 'T^His Diver, which is very like the little, frefh-water Diver, was fent to us from the cpafls of Picardy, which it frequents, particu- larly €€ €t i^ ><.l' SEA-CAT DIVER. 139 larly in winter, and where it is called by the ii fliers cat-manrt, becaufe it eats much young fry. They are often caught in the nets fpread for the fcotcr-ducks, with which they generally arrive ; for they are obferved to retire in fum- mer, as if they fpent that feafon in more north- ern countries. Some, however, breed in the Scilly ifles on the rocks, which they gain by fpringing from the water, having taken advan- tage of a fwell : for, like the other Divers, they can hardly rife from the land * ; nor can they even run but on the waves, which they rapidly graze in an ered attitude, the lower part of their body being immerfed. This bird enters with the tide into the mouths of rivers. It prefers fmall fmelts, and the fry of the ilurgeon and conger. As it fwims almoft as fafl as other birds fly, and dives as well as fifli, it has every poHible advantage for feizing its fugitive prey. The young ones, lefs dextrous and lefs expe- rienced than the old, fubfifl only on flirimps ; yet both are, at all fealbns, extremely fat. M. Baillon, who has carefully obferved thefe Divers on the coafts of Picardy, and who has furniflied • *« 1 one day found two Oi' thefe Divers, which had been cafl: ** afliore by the waves ; they were lying on the fand, working their " feet and wings, and crawling with difficulty: I gathered them *• like flones, yet they were net wounded ; and one of them thrown ** up, flew, dived, and played on the water before my eyes.'* Ob' fervatiott communicated by M. Baillon, ofMcntrcuil-fur-vier, I US \h ; % I' ' '''•J =j: II l||| ^'^ni 240 S E A-C AT D I V E ft. us with thefc details, fubjoins, that the female il diflinguiflied by being two inches (horter thari the male, which meafures two feet three inchcaf from the point of the bill to the end of the nails, and its alar extent three feet two inches i the plumage of the young ones, till moulting; is a fmoky black, without any of the white fpots fprinkled on the back of the adults. We (hall refer to this kind, as a variety, a black-headed Diver, which BrifTon makes his fifth fpecies, and applies to it the names given by Willughby and Ray, which refer only to th« northern Diver. ' . . , ■ . It has been remarked, though not with re- gard to any particular fpecies of Divers, that the flefli of thcfe birds is improved by living, in Lough Foyle, near Londonderry in Ireland, on a certain plant, whofe ftalk is foft, and almoft as fweet, it is faid, as a fugar-cane. THB NORTIIEiK>f DIVER : . t 241 3 The IMBRIM, or GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. FOURTH SPECIES. Colymhus Glacialis, Linn, and Gmel. Mergus Major Navius. BriiT. Colymhus Maximus Stellatus. Sibb. Colymhus Maximus Caudatus. Ray, Will, and Klein. The Greateft Speckled Diver, or Looa. Alb. Tie Northern Diver *. Penn. and Lath. T N the Feroe illands this Great Diver is called the Imbrim^ and in the Orkneys Embergoofe^ It is larger than a goofe, being near three feet from the bill to the nails, and four feet over the wings : it is alfo remarkable by a furrowed col- lar about the neck, marked by fmall longitudi- nal ftripes, alternately black and white: the ground on which this belt lies is black, with green reflections on the neck, and violet ones on the head : the mantle is black, entirely fprinkled with white fpeckles ; all the under lide of the body is fine white. • In Norwegian Brufen : in Icelandic Huubryre, according to An- derfon, who fays that this bird much refembles the vultur by its bulk and its cries ; but this pretended vultur is a merganfer. VOL, VIII. R This I'll; ..|i.- ry% >4* I M B R I M. ti ii!* u This Great Diver appears fometimcs in Eng- land in hard winters*; but at other times it never leaves the northern feas, and its ufual re- treat is among the Orkneys, the Feroe illands, on the coafts of Iceland, and near Greenland; for it is evidently the Tuglek of the Green- landers -f*. Some v^rriters of the north, fuch as Hoierus, phyfician at Bergen, have aflerted that thefe birds make their nefts and lay their eggs under water ; which is not even probable J : and the account inferted in the Philofophical Tranfac- tions§, that the Imbrim hatches her eggs by carrying them under her wings, appears to me equally fabulous. All that we can infer from thefe ftories is, that this bird probably breeds on fhelves or defart coafts, and that no obferver has yet feen its neft. • Ray. — ^We received one that was killed this winter (1780) oi\ the coaft of Picardy. f «' The Tuglek," fays Crantz, " is a diver of the bulk of a tur- " key-cock, and of the colour of a ftare ; its belly white, and its «* back fprinkled with white ; its bill is ftraight and pointed, an inch ** thick, and four inches long ; its length from the head to the taU « is two feet, and its alar extent two feet." Hi^^ Gen. dti Vyagts, torn. xix. /. 45. t Klein juftly refufes to credit the report. h N'473. p. 61. [A] Specific charafter of the CoJymbus Glacialis : ** Its head «* and neck are dark violet ; a white interrupted bar on its throat « and neck." In the northern regions, every pair of thefe birds occupy a lake, and breed on the fmall iflets. The young defend themi'elves courageoufly with their bills. The Greenlanders ufe the flcins for cloathing, and the Efquimaux deck their heads with the feathers. m ^ OA head throat birds lefend rs ufe with I m ] The LUMME, or LITTLE DIVER of the Northern Sea. FIFTH SPECIES. Colymhus ArSiicus, Linn. Gmel. Sibb. and Will. Mtrgus Gutture Nigra. Briff. Mergtts Araicus fimplicittr, Klein. the Black-throated Diver *. Edw. Penn. and Lath. TUMME or Loom in Lapponic lignifies /^/w^, alluding to the tottering pace of this bird when on land : it feldom however comes afhore, but fwims almoft conftantly, and breeds at the verge of the flood on defert coafts. Few have feen its neft, and the people of Iceland fay that it hatches its eggs under its wings in open fea 'f i which is not more probable than the incubatioa of the imbrim under water. The Lumme is fmaller than the imbrim, and about the bulk of a duck; its back is black fprinkled with little white fquares ; the throat is black, and alfo the fore fide of the head, of which the upper fide is covered with gray fea- thers ; the top of the neck is clothed with flmi-* ' * In Swedifh and Lapponic Loom or Lorn: in Greenlandic Jpa, according to Anderfon, and Moquo, according to Edwards. f Anderfon. R 2 Jar '11 i I m 111 it IW,' ilk 244 I. U M M E. I 'la '0 i'ii lar gray feathers, and ornamented behind by it long patch clouded with black, varying with violet and green : a thick down, like that of the fwan, covers all the Ikin; and the Laplanders make winter bonnets of thefe fine furs *. It appears that thefe Divers fcarcely ever quit the northern feas ; though, according ta Klein, they vifit from time to time the coafts of the Baltic, and are well known through the whole of Sweden -f*. Their principal abode is on the Chores of Norway, Iceland, and Greenland : thefe they frequent the whole fummer, and there breed their young; which they rear with fingular care and folicitude. Orv this fubjedt, Anderfon gives details which would be intereft- ing, were they all accurate. He fays that they lay only two eggs, and that as foon as a young Lumme is able to quit the neft, the parents lead it to the water, the one flying always above it to keep oflF the bird of prey, and the other be- low to receive it in cafe it fhould fall ; and that if notwithftanding their afliftance, the neftling fall to the ground, the parents ruQi after it, and rather than forfake it, they fuffer themfelves to be caught by men or eaten by foxes, which ever watch thofe opportunities, and which, in thofe bleak frozen regions, are conftrained to turn all their fagacity and wiles againft the birds. This f'4 * Fauna Suecica, and Hiji. Gen, des Voyages^ torn, xv. p, 305. f Fauna Smcica, author L U M M E. 24s author adds, that when the Lummes have once reached the fea with their young, they return no more to land. He affirms even that the old ones which have accidentally loft their family, or are paft breeding, never revifit the fhore, but fwim always in flocks of (ixty or a hundred. " If we throw a young one into the fea before a ** flock of Lummes, they will all gather round ** it, and ftrive to attend it ; nay they will fight ** about it till the vidor leads it off: but if the ** 1110 ther happen to intervene, the quarrel im- ** mediately ceafes, and the infant is configned '* to her care." On the approach of winter, thefe birds retire, and appear not again until the fpring. Ander- fon conjed:ures, that, fliaping their courfe be- tween the eaft and the weft, they arrive in America : and Edwards in fadl admits that this fpecies is common both to the northern feas of that continent and of Europe. We might add thofeof Afia; for the red- throated diver brought from Siberia, and reprefented under that name in our PI. EnL is exactly the fame with that of Edwards, pi. 97, which this naturalift gives as tlie female Lumme from the unimpeachcd vera- city of his correfpondent Iftiam, a good ob- ferver, who fent both cock and hen from Green- land. When the Lummes vifit the coafts of Nor- >vay, their diiferent cries are interpreted by fhe inhabitants to prefage fine weather or 'I m 111 R 3 ram. K. n6 L U M M E. rain*. This is probably the reafon why they fpare the lives of thefe birds, and are concerned to find them taken in their nets -f. Linnaeus diflinguifhes a variety in this fpe* cies J, and fays with Wormius, that the Lumme makes its neft flat on the beach at fea-mark : on that head, Anderfon contradi<^s himfelf. The Spitzbergen Lumb of Martens appears, ac- cording to Ray's obfervation, to be different from the Lumines of Greenland and Iceland, fincc /// bill is hooked : yet its attachment to its young, and the manner in which it leads them to the fea, defending them from the bird of prey, (how a great analogy to thefe birds in its natural habits §. With regard to the Loms of the navi- gator • ** When it forefees abundant rains, fearing that its neft will *^ be overflowed, it ftrilces the air with a querulous found ; on the *• contrary, when it expcfts fine weather, it chears its young with ** loud calls and another more grateful found."-— ^orMiAJ. f Idem, J ** A variety, whofe head and fides of its neck are cinereous ; *' the hind part of its neck marked with fmall black and white lines; " its back brown, without the white dots; its breaft fpotted before •« with cinereous and white." Fauna Suedca, N" 121. § " The bill of the Lumi refembles much that of the diver pi> " geon, except that it is fomewhat harder and more hooked. '* This bird is as large as a middling duck ... the young are ** commonly feen near the old ones, which inftrudl them to fwim <* and dive ; the old tranfport their brood from the rocks into the '• water, by taking them in their bill ; the burgomafter, which is a ** bird of prey, feeks to carry them off . . . but thefe birds are «* fo attached to their young, that they will rather be killed than •' forfake them, and they defend them as a hen does her chickens } ^ (hey cover them as they fwim . . . they fly in largQ flocks, and <• their L U M M E. 847 gator Barentz, they may be the fame with our Lummes, which might eafily frequent Nova Zembla *. " their wings are ihaped like thofe of fwallows ; in flying they ex- «* ercife thefe extremely . . . their cry is very difagreeable, and ** nearly like that of a raveii« nor is there any bird that cries more ** than this, unlefs perhaps the n^inter rotger^-^Recueil dts Voyages du Nord, torn, ii. /. 95. • " The name of lomr/, which Barentz gives to this bay (in the « Icy Sea, under Nova Zembla) was taken from a fpecies which '* abounds there, and which, according to the figniiication of the ** Dutch word, are exceflively unwieldy ; their body is fo large in ** comparifon of their wings, that one is furprized that they can *' raife fo cumbrous a weight. Thefe birds make their nefts on " craggy mountains, and cover only one egg at a time. The fight " of men difturbs them fo little that we may tak^ one in its neft, ** and yet thft reft will not fly away, or even fluft their place."— ^2/?. Gen. des Vt^ages, torn, x\, p. 104. [A] Specific character of the Colymhus Araicus: ** Its head i« *' hoary, the under fide of its neck dark violet ; a white inter- «* rupted bar." ill it IS .1* s m '!i^l •'.'■■W' ■it ;' m m m if) R 4 i I 1 u "M S [ 148 3 The MERGANSER. Le Harle *. Buff, FIRST SPECIES. Mergus Merganfer. Linn, and Gmel. Mer^anfer. Gefn. Aid. Johnft. Will. Sibb. Brifl*. &c. The Goofander, vci2\t\ Dun-divert or Sparling-fo'wl, female. Will. •* /T^His bird," fays Belon, " commits as X " much havock in a pool as a beaver j" and hence, he adds, it was termed bievre. But the old naturalift was here deceived with the vulgar, for the beaver does not eat fifli j and the otter is the animal to which this iSlhyophagous bird fhould be compared. The Merganfer is of a middle fize, between the duck and the goofe : but in its ftature, its plumage, and its fhort flight, is more allied to the duck. Its name, diver-goofed (mergus-anfer) feems to have been formed by Gefner injudici- oully ; for the refemblance of its bill to that of • In German Meer-rach, Weltch-eent : on the lake of Conftance Gan or Gamer : on the lake Maggiore Gargauey : in Polilh Kruk inorjki : in Norwegian Fijk-aftd, Mort-and : in Swedifll JVrmkfogel, Kjcrkfogeh Ardt Skraka : in Danifh Skallejlugcr : in Icelandic Skior-and: in the language of Greenland P^^/^/f, the X,215 Its LtO ') ici- tof .1'C> • '''1! m 1 f THE dooSATJDER the MERGANSER. 249 the diver, on which that appellation refts, is very imperfedt. The bill is nearly cylindrical, and ftrait to the point, like that of the diver 1 but differs inafmuch as the point is bent in the fafhion of a cr oked nail, with a hard, horny fubftance ; it differs alfo becaufe the edges are befet with indentings refledled backwards : the tongue is rough, with hQ,rd papi//a turned back- wards like the indentings on the bill, which ferve to hold the llippery fifh, and even to draw it into the throat of the bird : accordingly, with a gluttonous voracity, it fwallows fi(h much larger than can enter entire into its ftomach : the head firfl lodges in the cefophagus, and is digefled before the body can defcend. The Merganfer fwims with all its body fub- merged, and only its head out of the water * : it dives deep, remains long under water, and tra- verfes a great fpace before it again appears. Though its wings are fliort, it flies rapidly, and ofteneft it fhoots above the furface of the wa- ter 'f : it then appears almoft entirely white, and is therefore denominated ^ar/e humc in fome parts of France, as in Brie, where however it is rare. Yet the fore lide of its body is waflied with pale yellow: the upper fide of the neck and all the head are black, changing by reflec- tions into green ; and the feathers, which are (lender, filky, long, and briflled up from the nape • Aldrovandus and Wormius. f Rzyczynfici. to "• % % m % I'll J. II I ■I \ .3 350 MERGANSER. to the front, augment much the bulk of the head : the back confiAs of three colours, black on the top and on the great coverts of the wings, white on the middle ones and mod of the co- verts, and handfomely fringed with gray upon white at the rump : the tail is gray : the eyes, the feet, and part of the bill, arc red. The Merganfer, we have feen, is a very beau- tiful bird ; but its fleih is dry and unpleafant food *. The form of its body is broad and fen- iibly flattened on the back. Its wind-pipe is obferved to have three fwellings, the laft of which, near the bifurcation, includes a bony la- byrinth -I" : this apparatus contains the air which the bird refpires under water {. Belon fays alfo, that he remarked that the tail of the Mer- ganfer was often rumpled and turned up at the end, and that it perches and builds its neil, like the cormorant, on trees or rocks : but Aldro- vandus afTerts, with more probability, that it breeds on the Ihore, and never quits the water. We have not been able to afcertain this fadt j thefe birds appear only at diilant intervals in France, and from all the accounts which wc have received, we can only gather that they oc- cur in diiFerent places, and always in win- • Belon relates the vulgar proverb. He ivho would regaU the dt' vil, might fewe him 'with merganfer and cormorant, I Wiliughby. \ Belon. 5 ten r.». MERGANSER. *St tcr ♦. In Switzerland their appearance on tho lakes is fuppofcd to forebode a fevcrc winter : and though they mufl be known on the Loire, lince there, according to Dtlon, they received the name of harle or berle, that obferver him- fclf intimates, that they retire in winter to more fouthern climates, for he law them entering from the north into Egypt ; yet he Hiys, that in every other feafon except winter they are found on the Nile, which is difficult to reconcile. The Merganfers are not more common in England than in France -f* j yet they penetrate into Norway J, Iceland §, and perhaps ft ill far- ther north. The Geir-fogel of the Icelanders, which Anderfon improperly calls a vulture, is a Merganfer j at leaft if its voracity may entitle it to the appellation of fea vulture. But it fcems thefe birds do not conftantly re fide on the coaft of Iceland -, fmce every time they arrive, the in- habitants expedt fome great event. The female Merganfer is uniformly fmaller confidsrably than the male : it differs alfo, like moft of the water birds, by its colours ; its head I 'it! V^ ■»\f ■ mi '.Mil (lib. • Merganfer killed the 1 5th of February 1 778, at Montbard, on a pool, where it had been feen for feveral days.— Merganfer killed near Croifie, on the fait m^tOxt^.'— Letter of M. de ^erho'enty of tht 1 ith of /"f^rwary.— Merganfer kiUed at Bourbon-lancy, and fent to M. Hebert in March 177^. - f Charlcton. X Mullen \ Wormius, Charlcton, It 252 MERGANSER. is rufous, and its mantle gray *. BriiTon makes it his feventh fpecies. • It is the female which Belon ftyles the beaver. Linnaeus, in the twelfth edition of his Syjiema Naturee, under the name Mer^uS' Cajior, [A] Specific charafter of the Mergus-Mtrganfer : " Its creft *' longitudinal and fomewhat ere£l ; its breall whitifli and fpotlefs ; ** its tail-quills cinereous, their (haft blackifli." Linnaeus fays, that thefe birds breed fometimes on trees and fometimes between ftones, and lay fourteen eggs. They pafs the whole year in the Orknies, yet never appear in England except in hard winters. They are found not only in the north of Europe, but in the greater part of North America. The CRESTED MERGANSER, Le Harle Huppe^ Buffi SECOND SPECIES. Mergus-Serrator. Linn, and Gmel. Serrator Cirrhatus. Klein. Mergus CriJIatus. Briff. rhe Serula. Will. The Lejfer Duti Diver. Penn. The Lejfer Toothed Diver, Morton. The Red-hreajied Merganfer. Lath. 'nr^ H E preceding fpecies had only a tuft ; this "^ is adorned with a diftindt and well-formed creft, confifting of flender, long plumules, di- rected backwards from the occiput : it is about ,the CRESTED MERGANSER. 253 the fize of a duck : its head and the top of its neck are of a violet black, changing into gold green : the breaft is rufous variegated with white; the back is black; the rump and the flanks are ftriped in zig-zags with brown and light gray ; the wing is variegated with black, with brown, with white, and with cinereous; on both fides of the breaft, near the ihoulders, there are pretty long white feathers edged with black, which cover the pinion when the wing is clofed ; the bill and feet are red. The female is diftinguifhed from the male by its head being of a duUe;: rufous, its back gray, and all the fore fide of its body white, faintly tinged with fulvous on the breaft. According to Willughby, this fpecies Is very common on the lagoons of Venice ; and fince Muller affirms that it is found in Denmark and Norway, and Linnsus, that it alfo inhabits Lapland*, it probably frequents the interme- diate countries. In fadl, Schwenckfeld aflures us, that this bird palTes into Silefia, where it is {een in the beginning of v/inter on the pools among the mountains. Salerne fays that it is very common on the Loire ; but from his manner of fpeaking of it, he feems to have ob- ferved it very inattentively. * The Knipa of Schoeffer, Fauna Suedca. [A] Specific chara£ter of the Crefted Merganfer, Mergus-Ser- rator : « Its crefl: is hanging ; its breaft tawny and variegated ; « its ; n ^* ^d'a ,tl. ,A m-4 '1" ''A i^m *54 CRESTED MERGANSER. •» its neck white ; its tail-quills brown, variegated with cinereous.** In Iceland thefe birds are called Vatus-ond. They appear in great flocks during the fammer in Hudfon's Bay, and on the Siberian lakes. \ '* The PIETTE, or LITTLE CRESTED MERGANSER. THIRD SPECIES, Mergus Albellus. Linn, and Gmel. Mergus Varius. Gefner. Mergus Rheni. Aldrcv. Ray, &c. * The Smeiv, or Pfhiie Nun. Penn. and Lath. 'T^ H I s is a handfomc little Merganfer with a pied plumage : it is fometimes called the Nu7i (ReligieufeJ no doubt becaufe of the neat- nefs of its fine white robe, its black mantle, itb head hooded with white un webbed feathers, difpofed like a chin-piece, and raifed in the form of a band, which interfeds behind a little veil lappet of a dull green-violet : a black half collar on the top of the neck compleats the modefl and elegant apparel of this little winged Nun. It is alfo well known by the denomination Piette* on the rivers Are and Somme in Pi- cardy, where is not a peafant, fays Belon, but knows its name. It is rather larger than the • From pittttr, to trif lightly. garganey, ^'2]^ THE SMEW 2»^ERQANKER . ■ ■' ■''^^ -'■''i''' 'i 1 ^! VW"^U jl,:Ufjt:iji • ■■''■■■■ •"■I 'If I}; ' 11'- »1 ^TiJi?' >iia •li-.l; Ir .^^> ' ..>,■■■ it: r MANTLED MERGANSER. 25$ garganey, but fmaller than the morillon ; its bill is black, and its feet of a lead gray : the ex- tent of black and white on its plumage is very fubjedt to vary, infomuch that it is fometimes almoft all white. The female is not fo beauti- ful as the male ; it has no crell: ; its head is rufous, and its mantle is gray. [A] Specific charafter of the Smew, Mergus-Jlbellus : ** lu ** creft is hanging ; the back of its head black ; its body white ; " its back and temples black ; its wings variegated." The MANTLED MERGANSER, FOURTH SPECIES, Mergus Serrator, var. i. Gmel. Mergus Niger. Gefner and Johnfton. Mergan/er Leucomelanut. \ Ti.'cr Merganfer Niger. J jinas Longirojlra tertia. ■ ' ' fexta. \ SchKenckfeld. "1X7' E rank thefe birds together, becaufe they ' ^ differ lefs than the male and female in this genus ; efpecially as they are nearly of the fame fize. Belon, who has defcribed one under the name of tiers (third) fays that it was fo called as being intermediate, or the third between the duck and the morillon^ and that its wings imitate, by their motley colours, the variety of the mo- rillon's as6 STELLATED MERGANSER. ( i.. ,■■<( rillon's wings : he was miftaken however in joining his tiers with this bird, fince its bill is entirely different from that of the morillon ; and its bulk approaches more to that of the duck. This defcription exadly fuits then the Mergus Leucomdanus (black and white merganfer) of Briflbn j it alfo agrees with his Mergus Niger, (or black mcrganjer) except that the neck of this laft has a bay call, and that its tail is black : the bill and feet of both are red. Schwenck- feld fays, that the former are feldom feen in Silelia ; but he does not by that expreflion in- iinuate that the latter is more common there, while he remarks that fome of thefe appear on the rivers in March on the breaking up of the ice. The STELLATED MERGANSER. Le Harle Etoile', Buff. FIFTH SPECIES, Mergus Minutus, Linn. Merganfer SteJiatus. BrifT. and Klein. Mergus jilbus. Gefner and Johnfton. Mergus Glacialis. Aldrov. Will, and Charl. The Wee/el Coot. Albin. The Minute Lough Di'ver. Penn. 'T^ H E great difference between the male and female in this genus occafions much con- fufion in the nomenclature : and we flrongly fufpeft ■,i Urn I 'f. STELLATED MERGANSER. 257 fufpeft that if the Stellated Merganfer were bet- ter defcribed and better known, it would be found to be the female of fome of the foregoing fpecies. Willughby was of this opinion, and regarded it as the female of the mantled Mer- ganfer j and indeed it has the peculiar property of that bird, being found fometimes entirely white. BrifTon giv»ss it the epithet Jiellated^ from a white fpot, figured like a flar, which is placed, he fays, below a black fpot that fur- rounds the eyes. The upp^r fide of the head is bay colour, the mantle blackifh brown, all the fore fide of the body is white, and the wing is partly white, partly black ; the bill is black, or lead- coloured, as in the mantled Merganfer; and thefe two birds qre nearly of the fame lize. Gefner fays, that this Merganfer is called in Switzerland the Ice Duck, becaufe it does not appear on the lakes till hard frofl fets in. [A] Specific charadler of the Mcrgus Minutus : *' Its hend is • finooth and gray, a black bar on its eye, a white fpot under the ** eye." In winter, thefe bi- is vifit the Ihores of our ifland, from the northern regions. VOL. VIII, ■.;• 1;™ r 258 ] ! I : I The C R O W N E D M E R- G A N S E R. SIXTH SPECIES. Mergtci CucuUatiis. Linn, and Gitiel. Mcrganfer Virgtnianus Criftattu, BriH*' Serrator Cucullatus. Klein. The IVind-Bird. Will. The Round-crejled Duck. Catefby and Edw. The Hooded Merganfer, Penn. and Lath. ^X^ H I s Merganfer, which is found in Virg^- •^ nia,. is very remarkable for a fine edged crown on its head, black in the circumference, and white in the middle, formed of feathers ele- vated to a difk; which has a fine efFedt, but ap- pears to advantage only in the living bird. Its breaft and belly are white ;. the bill, the face, the neck, and the back, are black; the quills of the ail and wings are brown j the iimermoft in the wings are black, and marked with a white flreak. This bird is nearly as large as a duck : the fe- male is entirely brown, and its crefl is fmaller than that of the male. Fernandez has defcribed both under the Mexican name Ecatototl, witb the epithet wind-birdy without mentioning the, reafon. Thefe birds are found in Mexico and Carolina, as well as in Virginia, and haunt the rivers and pools. [A] Specific charafter of the Mergus Cucullatus: «*Its creft is « ball-fhaped and whit6 on both fides ; its body brown above, and ♦♦ white below." It winters in Virginia and Carolina. R- m V^irgi*- edged rence, rs elc- ut ap- \. Its :e, the of the in the ftreak. he fe- fmaller fcribed !, witb tig the CO and mt the ts creft is ,bove> and • j; 4 f m n I1^ Ni 1 M k' X » 2/ TIIE GRfiAT WHITE TE. LICAiV . [ ^59 ] 1 he PELICAN. Le Pelican. Buff, Pekcanu: Onocrotalus. Linn, and Gmcl, Ottocrotalus. Gefncr. Aldrov. Will. Johnft. BrifT. &c, The White Pelican. Edw. Pcnn. and Lath. 'TT^ H E Pelican * is more interefling to the "^ naturalifl by its greater (lature and the large fac under its bill, than by the fabulous celebrity of its name, facred among the religious emblems of ignorant nations. It has been employed to re- * In Greek nsAi«aw<, Tlihty.woi, ^£^E;^^»of, in difFcreut authors, from nt^ixvf, a hatchet, on account of its broad bill: it had alfo the name o»oxgol«?iot, from ovoi an afs, and n^'%\ov a rattle, becaufe of the gurgling in its throat. The Romans adopted that term; but, ac- cording to Verrius Flaccus and Fcftus, they anciently called it Truo. In Hebrew it was denominated Kakik : in Chaldean Cat ha : in Arabic Kuk and Jlhaufal, meaning gullet : in Perfian KiA Tacab, ^which fignifies ivater-carrier) or Mifo (Jheep, on account of its bulk) : in Egyptian Begas or Gemel- el bahr (••water camel) : in Turkifh Sackagufch: in the old Vandal language Bukriez : in Spanifh Grcto: in Italian Agrotto : at Rome Truo ; and near Sienna and Mantua Jgrotfi : in the Alps of Savoy Goettreu/i, becaufe its bag refembles the goitres to which the mountaineers are fubjedl : in German Meef-" gans, Schnee-gans (fea-goofe,fnonv-goofe) : in Auftria Ohne-Fogel (the nfwrne, or tierct'birdj : in Poliih Sak, Bak Cudzoziemjki : in Ruffia Baba: in modern Greek Toubano: in the French Weft India iflands Gremd Gojitr (great gullet) : in Mexico Jtototl; and by thfi Spanilh fettlers Akatrax : in tke Philippine iflands Pagala : bjr the negroes of Quinea Po^ia : by the Siamefe NeMt : in old Fren«h Livane, s 2 prefent ,■■<' .;! ■'ti •'' ■ "ill ■'■ :■ v't*| MfJ' I. TH ■ " i«'.S. ,! . ~»«'s .;t,i- l}- 'ri.'i.i:'. s6o PELICAN. prcfcnt iratcrnal tcnderncfs, tearing its breaft to ncuriih its languiftuny; family with its blood. This tale, which th • E^^yptians had before re- lated of the vu'ture *, cannot I'pply to the Peli- can, which lives in abundance -f-, and even en- joys an advantage over the other pifcivorous birds, being provided wiih a bag for ftoring its provifions. The Pelican equals, or even AirpafTes, the bulk of the fwan J, and would be the largeft of all the aquatic birds §, were not the albatrofs thicker, and the flamingo much taller on its legs. Thofc of the Pelican, on the contrary, are very low; but its wings are fo broad as to extend eleven or twelve feet ||. It therefore fupports itfelf cafily, and for a length of time, in the air : it balances itfelf with alertnefs, and never changes its place but to dart diredly downwards on its prey, which cannot efcape ; for the violence of the ♦ Horus Apollo. f St. Auguftine and St. Jercine Cer.m to be the authors of the application of this fable, originally Egyptian, to the Pelican. { Edwards reckons the one which he defcribes twice as large as the fwan. ElUs fpeaks of one mqre tlian double the bulk of a large fwan. ^ " I fat out on the fecond of Oftober for the ifland of Griel by " this channel, which is parallel to the main branch of the Niger . . . *' it was entirely covered with Pelicans, which were failing gravely ** like fwans on the water ; they are indifputably, after the olhich, " the largeft birds of the country." Adanfon, Fojage au Stnegal, f. 136. v II The Pelicans defcribed by the academicians had eleven feet of alar extent, which, as they remark, is double that of the fwans and of she eagles. dafh. PELICAN. 16 1 dafti, and its wide-1'prcad wings, which ftrike and cover the fiirfacc of the water, make it boil and whirl *, and at the fame time ftun the fifh, and deprive it of the power of flight -f. Such is their mode of fifhing when alone ; but in large flocks they vary their manoeuvres, and a "4* I 'I !^ 'i^d . 'Mmm 268 PELICAN. M l\ i:. % I ti i« ii. lit f'l with a multitude of birds, which feem, on that Hiore, to fill the air and the fea *. They occur at Madagafcar f, at Siam J, in China §, at the ifles of Sunda ||, and at the Philippines f , efpe- cially on the fifheries of the great lake of Ma- nilla **. They are fometimes met with at fea -f-f* : And laftly, they have been feen on the remote lands in the Indian ocean, as at New Holland JJ, where Captain Cook fays they arc extremely large. In America, the Pelicans are found from the Antilles §§ and Terra Firma\\\\, the ifthmus of Panama ^If^, and the bayof Campeachy ***,as hr as Louifiana "f 'f't'* ^nd the country adjoining tp * Downton ; Hijt. Gen. des Voy, torn, ii. /. 46. f Cauche; Paris 165 1, /. 136. X Tachard; Hiji. Ceti, des F^. torn. ix. p. 311, § Pirard. H Pifotu 4|[ Philofophical Tranfaftlons, N* 285. *• Sonnerat. f f «« On the 13th of December, after having paflTed the Tropic, *« many birds vifiied us ; there were a great number of Pelicans " (grand gof.ersj." Foyage de le Guat, Amjlerdanit 1708, tcm. i. /. 97. X\ HiJl. Gen. des Voy. torn. xi. p. 221. \\ Dutertre, Labat, Sloane. " In 1656, in the month of Sep- «* tember, there was a great mortality among thefe birds, particu- «* larly the young ones ; for all the coafts of the iflands of St. Alou- •* fia, of St. Vincent, of Becouya, and of all the Grenadines, were « ftrewed with the dead carcafes." Dutertre, Hifl. Gen. des An- tilles y torn. \\. p. z^u fill Oviedo. ^fl Wafer. *•• Dampier. fff HiJU Gtn. des Voy. torn, xiv. /. 4561 Hudfon'« PELICAN. 269 ;^\q Hudfon's Bay *. They are feen alfo on the in- habited ifles and inlets near St. Domingo -f* ; and in greater numbers on thofe fmall ifles clothed v/ith the fineft verdure, which lie in the vicinity of Guadaloupe, and which feem to be occupied as the retreat of different fpecies of birds : one of thefe ifles has even been called t&e ijle of Pe^ licans (Tile aux grand-gofiers %). They aug- ment alfo the flocks cf birds v/hich inhabit the ifland of Aves § ; the coaft of the Sambales, which abounds with fifli, attracts them in great numbers {| : in that of Panama, they are feen to alight in bodies on the banks of pilchards left at fpring tides : And laftly, all the (hoals and ad- jacent iflets are to fuch a degree covered with thefe birds, that their fat is melted for oil f » The Pelican fifhcs in frefti water as well as in the fea. We need not, therefore, be furprized to find it on the large rivers ; but, what is An- gular, it does not confine itfelf to the contigu- ous, low, and wet grounds, but it frequents alfo the drieft countries, fuch as Arabia and Perfia **, where it is ftiled ivater-carrier 'W. As it is obliged to place its nefl: remote from the fountains or wells where the caravans halt, it has been obferved to carry frefh water in its pouch from a great diftance to its young: and the good • Hiji. Gen. ties Voy. torn, xiv. /. 456, f Hote communicated hy the Chevalier Dejhctfts. X Dutcrtre. f Ovittdo. § Labat. «♦ Chardin. II Wafer. . ft Tacah. MuflTulmans V^<1 H; !"'(,! i M 'l':lf:iv^' "Vit^ I : '»►!. IJO PELICAN. I ¥ »■ k! ii^ iV„ Muflulmans fay, very pioufly, that God ordained this bird to inhabit the defert, in order to pro- vide drink for the parched pilgrims who journey towards Mecca, as in ancient times he fent the raven to feed Elias in the wildernefs *. Hence the Egyptians, alluding to the manner in which this large bird keeps the water in its bag, have fliled it the river camel -f . We muft not confound the Barbary Pelkattf mentioned by Dr. Shaw, with the real Pelican, Ance this traveller fays that it is not larger than a lapwing. The Pelican of Kolben is only the fpoon-bill. Pigafetta diftinguifhed well the Pelican on the coaft of Angola, but was mif- taken in beftowing that name on a bird of Loango with tall legs like the heron J. We doubt much alfo whether the alcatraz^ which fome travellers fay that they have feen in the open fea between Africa and America §, be our Pelican j though the Spanilh inhabitants of the Philippines and of Mexico have given it that appellation : for the Pelican ftrays little from the coafls, and when met with at fea it is re- garded as a fign of the proximity of land ||. Of the two vi'^vixt^ pdecanus^ 2indonocrota/us**, * Chardin. f Gemel el Bahr. Vanfleb. Voyage en Egypte, Paris fityj. X H'tji. Gen. des Voy. torn, iv. /. 588. § Id. torn, i. /. 44.8. II Sloane. ^ ^ AriflQtle, lib. ix. ic. •* Pliny, libs X. 47. applied PELICAN. 971 applied by the ancients to this large bird, tho latter refers to its ftrange voice, which they compared to the br-^-lng of an afs. Klein fup- pofes that it makes this noife with its throat plunged in the water ; but this idea feems to be borrowed from the bittern, for the Pelican ut- ters its raucous cry far from the water, and fcreams loudeft in open air. iElian defcribes and accurately characterizes the Pelican under the name of KijXr} * ; but I cannot imagine why he reprefents it as an Indian bird, lince it is found now, and undoubtedly was found for- merly, in Greece. The firft name pelecanus or pelicanus has mlf- led the tranllators of Ariftotle, and even Cicero and Pliny : they have rendered it by the word platea, which would confound the Pelican with the fpoon-btlL When Ariftotle fays that the pelecanus fwallows thin fhell-filh and cafts them up half-digefted, in order to feparate the rtieat which they contain, he imputes to it a habit which agrees better with the fpoon-bill, confi- dcring the ftrudture of its oefophagus : for the pouch of the Pelican is not a ftomach where digeftion is begun \ and Pliny inaccurately com- pared the manner in which the onocrotalus fwallows and brings up its food to the procef^ carried on in ruminating animals. " There is " nothing here," M. Perrault very judi^roufly * This word fignified zny tumor, bat more particularly a AvelUng on the throat. remarks. L' , ■mm m ■' .'^^i 'ill;- % II lilt 'I Ji( ■-•^■*";.4'iii 172 PELICAN. If «« « «( €t U €€ remarks, " but what enters into the general plan of the organization of birds : all of them have a craw in which their food is lodged ; in the ** Pelican it lies without and under the bill, in- ** ftead of being concealed within, and placed at *• the bottom of the cefophagus^ But this exte- ** rior craw has not the di^eftive heat of that of ** other birds, and in this bag the Pelican car- ries the ii{h entire to its younp. To difgorge them it prefTes the pouch again 0: its breaft ; " and this very natural adc may have given rife to the fable fo generally told, that the Pelican opens its breaft to nourifh its offspring with «' its blood." The neft of the Pelican is commonly found at the ve'ge of waters; it places it flat on the ground * 3 and Salerne was miftaken, confound- • Belon, Sonncrat, and others.—** They lay on the bare grounv-f, •' and cover their eggs in this fituation. ... I have found fjvs " under a female, which did not give herfelf the trouble to rife *< and let me pafs ; Ihe only made fome pecks with her bill, and *' fcreamed when I ftruck her to drive licr from her eggs. . . , There ** was a number of young ones on our iflct. ... I took two young « ones, which I faftened to a (lake, and I had the pleafure, for ** fome days, of feeing the mother, which fed them and remained ** the whole of the day with them, palfing the night on a tree «• above their heads ; all the three were grown fo familiar that they *• allowed me to touch them, and the young ones took very graci- ** oufly the little fi(h which I offered them, and which they put firl( «' into their pouch. I believe that I fhould have brought them ** away, if their dirtinefs had not hindered me : they are filthier than *' geefe or ducks ; and we may fay that their life is divided into *< three a£ls, to feek food, to deep, and to ciefir every minute heaps ** of excrements as large as" one's hand." I^abat, Nowvtau Voyage mux lUi de l*Amtriquet iem. viii. //. 294, 296, ing PELICAN. 473 ing it probably with the fpoon-bill, when he faid that it breeds on trees. It is true that it perches on thefe, notwithftanding its weight and its broad webbed feet; and this habit, which would be lefs furprizing in thole of America, where many aquatic birds perch, obtains equal- ly in the Pelicans of Africa and of other parts of inir continent *. This bird, as voracious as it is deftrudive -(-, takes up in a fingle excurfion as many fi(h as would feaft half a dozen men. It fwallows ealily a fiih of feven or eight pounds : and we are told that it alfo eats rats and other fmall animals j:. Pifon fays, that he faw a kitten fwallowed alive by a Pelican, which was fo familiar that it walked into the market; where the fifhermen haftened to tie its bag, left it fhould (lily pur- loin fome of their fi(h. It eats with the fide of its mouth, and when a perfon throws it a morfel, it fnaps at it. The pouch in which it ftores all its captures, confifts ♦ "They are fcen (in Guinea) to perch by the river fide on •* fome tree, where they wait to (hoot upon the fifh which appear ** on the furface." Voyage de Games au Detrtit de Magellan^ Parisj 1698, /. 41. ** We faw thofe large birds called ptlicant perch « upon trees, though they have feet like a goofe. . . . Their eggs ** are as large as a lulfpenny roll." Voyage a Madagafcar^ par Fr. Cauchet /. 1361. f IfuxpkbiU animal, fays Pliny. X ** It is exceedingly fond of rats, and fwallows them entire . . , ** ibmetimes we made it come near us, and as if it wiihed to amufe " us, it brought up a rat from its crop, and threw it at our. feet." Bofman* Vtyage ea Guinit, LeUra xv. VOL. VIII. T of ■m !''''■ M*' ■ r^ ''■'"••'fill I - ■• •■ ' ■: "K' All J:|l ll ■.■A\ivM- (i i f — — 1 274 p E L I e A N. i of two fkins ', the inner coat is continued from the membrane of the cefophagtis, the outer is only a produdion of the ik\n of the neck : the wrinkles in which it is folded ferve to contract the bag, and when empty it becomes flaccid. The bag of the Pelican is ufed as a tobacco- pouch, and, in the French Weft India iflands Is termed blague or blade *, from the Englifh word bladder. It is aflferted, that when thefe are prepared, they are more beautiful and foftcr than lamb-fkins -f-. Some failors make caps of them X J tlie Siamefe f(.rm mufical ftrings of the fubftance § j and the fifhcrmen of the Nile ufe the fac attached to the jaw as a fcoop for lading their boats, or for holding water; as it neither rots with moifture nor can be penetrated by it |[. • Blagues are prepared by rubbing them well between the hands> to foften the (kin ; and to increafe the pliancy, they are befmeared with the butter of the cocoa, and again pafled between the hands, care l^ing taken to preferve the part which is covered with feathers as an ornament. Note communicated by the Chevalier Dejhayes.-^ « The failors kill the Pelican for its bag, into which they put " a cannon-ball, and then hang it up, to give it the fhape of a " tobacco-pouch." Le Page du Pratz, Hijloiie de la Louifianey torn, ii. /. 113. t " Our people killed many, not to eat . . . but to have their *• blagues ; for this is the name given to the pouch where they ftore " their fifli. All our fmokers ufe them to hold their cut tobacco. •* . . . They are pafTed for lamb-ftins, and they are much finer and ** fofter ; they become of the thicknefs of good parchment, but «« extremely pliant and fpft. The Spaniih women hem them very •' prettily and delicately with gold and filk ; I have feen fome •* pieces of work of this kind that were exceedingly beautiful." Labat, tern. viii. /. 299. } Cauche. ) Tachard. )| Belon. It PELICAN. ^7$ It feems that nature has provided with fingu- lar caution againfl the fufFocation of the Peli- can : when, to fwallow its prey, it opens under water its whole bag, the trachea arteria, then leaving the vertebra of the neck, adheres under this bag, and occalions a very fenfiblc fwelling; at the fame time two fphinder mufcles contradt the cefophagus in fuch manner as to completely prevent the water from entering *, At the bottom of this fame bag is concealed a tongue fo fhort, that the bird has been believed to have none -(* j the noftrils alfo are almoft invifible, and placed at the root of the bill ; the heart is very large ; the kidney very fmall j the caca equally fmall, and much lefs in proportion than in the goofe, the duck, and the fwan : Laftly, Aldrovandus afTures us, that the Pelican has only twelve ribs ; and he obferves that a ftrong membrane, furniflied with thick mufcles, covers the pinions. But a very interefting obfervation we owe to M. Mery and Father TachardJ, that air is fpread * Memoires de i'Acadcmie des Sciences, /. 196. f Gefner. X •* In a journey whidi we made to the loadilone-mlne, M. de la Marre wounded one of thefc large birds which oar people call grand goJuTt and the Siamczc uoktho ... its fpread wings mea- fured feven feet and a half. ... In diirciflion we found, under the flefhy panicle, very delicate membranes which enveloped the whole body, which folding differently, formed many confidera- bie fmufes, particularly between the thighs and the belly, be- tween the wings and the ribs, and under the craw ; fome were ** ■ft .** u . 4* (( I 'I T 2 ■Mi "(I % *' ''T ■ .''i it' -hmi i Ml i- ■';fV!i'| "^ 276 PELICAN. fpread under the ikin thrbugh the whole body of the Pelican. It may even be faid that this is a general fad, more confpicubus indeed in t!ie cafe of the Pelican, but which obtains in all birds, and which M. Lory, a celebrated and learned phyficij>n at Paris, has demonflrated by tracing the communication from the atmofphere to the bones and the pipes of the quills* In the Pelican, the air paffes from the bread into the Axillary finufes, whence it infinuates into the veficles of the thick and fwelled cellular mem- brane which covers the mufcles and envelopes the whole body, under the membrane in which the feathers are rooted; thefe veficles are in- flated to fuch a degree, that on preffing the bo- dy, the air is obferved to efcape every way under the fingers. During expiration, the air comprefT- ed in the breafl- paffes into the finufes, and thence fpreads into all the vclicles of the cellular tex- ture : by blowing into the trachea arterial we may even make the courfe of the air fenfible to the eye. We may conceive therefore how 1 *' fo wide as to admit the two fingers ; thefe great finufes divided " into many little dufts, wliich by perpetual fubdiviiion ran into •* an endlefs multitude of ramifications, which were perceptible only ** by the bubbles of air which inflated them ; infomuch that* ^ref- *< fing the body of this bird, one heard a little noife like that prO- ** duced by prefling the membranous parts of an animal which h&s *« been inflated. By the affiftance of the probe and blowing, Vve ** difcovered the communication of thefe membranes with the •* lungs." Second Voyage of Father Tachard', Hifi, Gen. dts Vdji, tern, ix. /. 3 1 1 • . — much PELICAN. «77 much the Pelicaa (nay enlarge ^s volume with- out increafing ii;$ weight, mi hQW ipuch this muft facilitate the flight of this great l?ird. The flefli pf the Pelican needed ijipt to hav^ been forbidden ampng the Jews a$ unclean i for it condenms itfelf by its bad tafte, its marfhy fmell, and its oily fat, thowgh fon^ie navigators have ea^ten o^ it*. * '* Their fleih is better than that of boobies or man of war « birds." — Dampier. [A] Specific chara6ter of the Pelican, PJecanus-Onecrctalus : *' It is white, and its throa,t furnifhed with a pouch.'* T^m^ !..1if ;«!; '.Tilt VARIETIES of the PELICAN. "1X7 E have oblerved in many articles of this Natural Hiftory, that in general the fpe- cies of the large birds, like thofe of th«^ large quadrupeds, exift (ingle, detached, and almoft without varieties ; that they alfo appc^ar every- where the fame; whereas under each genus or in each family of fmall animals, and efpecially in thofe of the little birds, there is a multitude of breeds more or lefs akin to the parent flock, and which have improperly been denominated fpecies. That term, and the metaphyfical no- tion which it involves, often withdraws us from T 3 the bM ml ,:l;-:! 0} u 'J m •■i:l,';J'll»* 278 BROWN PELICAN. the true knowledge of the ihades of nature in her productions, much more than the names of varietiesy of breeds, and oi families. But this lineage, which is lofl: amidfl the collateral branches in the fmall fpecies, maintains itfelf among the large ones; for they admit of few varieties only, which may always be eafily re- ferred to their primary trunk. The oftrich, the caflbwary, the condor, the fwan, all the birds of the firft magnitude, have few or no va- rieties in their fpecies. Thofe which may be reckoned the fecond order in bulk or ilrength, fuch as the crane, the ilork, the pelican, the albatrofs, admit of only a fmall number of thefe varieties, which in the Pelican may be reduced to two. ;!^ li The BROWN PELICAN. FIRST VA R I ETT. Pekcanus Fufcus. Linn, and Gmel. Onocrotalui Fufeus. Bri/T. The Pelican ef America, Ellis and Edwards. The Dujky Pelican, Pennant. '1X7E have already remarked, that the plumage ^^ of the Pelican is fubjed to vary, and that, according to the age, it ia more or lefs white and H BROWN PELICAN. 279 and tinged with a little rofe-colour : it feems to vary alfo from circumftances, for it is fome- times mixed with gray and black. Thefe dif- ferences have been remarked between indivi- duals [which undoubtedly belonged to the fame fpecies *. But thefe intermingled colours are fo little removed from a general gray or brown caft, that Klein has not helitated to alfert pofi- tively that the brown and white pelicans are only varieties of the fame fpecies. Sir Hans Sloane, who had carefully obferved the Brown Pelicans of America, confelTes alfo that they appeared to be the fame with the white peli- cans. Oviedo, fpeaking of the pelicans with a Cinereous plumage which occur on the rivers of the Antilles, remarks, that fome of them, are of i very fine white -|-. We are inclined to think that the brown colour is the garb of the young ones ; for the Brown Pelicans have generally been found to be fmaller than the white. Thofe feen near Hudfon's Bay were alfo fmaller and of a dufky caft J ; fo that their white is not oc- cafioned by the feverity of the climate. The ••«* Some had their plumage entirely white, with the light and «' tranfparent caft of flelh-cclour, except the wings, whofb great ** quills had a tinge of gray and black ; the others were of a much " more decided flefli or rofe-colour." Mtmoirt-s de P j^cademie des Sciences^ &c. The Pelican killed on the lake of Albufera had its back of a blackifh gray. Journal Politique, l^c, f Hift. Gen. des Voy. torn. xiii. p. 228. X Ellis, andl'Hiil. Gen. des Voy. torn. xiv. /. 663 ; and torn. xv. /. 268. T 4 fame ;,(■ J, fi -■• i i! ■ iai ifi i- Ife m t. mi I « !rt \r ito BROWN PELICAN. feme variety of colour is obferved in the hot countries of the ancient continent. Sonnerat, after having defcribed two pelicans of the Phi- lippine iflands, the one brown and the other rofe-colour^ exprefTes a fufpicion, as we do» that he had only viewed the fame bird at difierent ^ges. And what confirms our opinion, BriiTon has given a Philippine pelican, which feems to form the intermediate {hade, being not entirely gray or brown, but having only the wings and part of the back of that colour, and the refb white *. • ** Above gray cinereoua, below white, the rump of the fame ^ colour ; the head and neck bright whitiih, with a longitudinal ^ bar on the upper part of the neck, variegated with brown and ^ whiti(h ; the greater wing-quills cinereous blackifh, the tail> ^* quills cinereous white, their (hafts blackiih, the lateral onea «* bright white at their origin." [A] Specific character of the Ptlecanus Fu/cusi ** It is a(h« ** brown, its primary wing-quills black* its throat forniihed with at * pouch." 1 ^1 1 i jfwii i m ('' mm m 1 >. 1 1 t i i ' [ aSi J The INDENTED. BILLED PELICAN. SECOND vA R J Err. felicanus-Thagus. Gmel. Ottocretakf Rojlro Denticulato. BnflT. Onocrotaluj Mexicanus Dentatus. Hernandez^ 8ee» The Saw-hilkd Pelican*. Lath. ■ '[:■ IF the indenting of the bill of this Mexican Pelican be natural and regular, like that of the bill of the merganfer and feme other birds, this particular chara^er would fuffice to confti- tute a different fpecies, though BrifTon gives it only as a variety : but if this indenting be formed by the accidental chipping of the edges of the bill, as we have remarked in the bill of certain calaos, the accidental difference deferves not even to be admitted as a variety ; and we lean more to this opinion, as Hernandez men^ tions the common pelican and the Indented-^ billed Pelican as inhabiting the fame places. \0. ■■-'91 "•i'i^H'i • Jtototl, Jlc«traXtQno(rot(iks Mexicanus Dentatus. Hernandez.- .^/oMf/, fernandesis. :.•'■';'■" mwh i n\ h i; I! ,, ,1^ !l''1 ici;:,;.; '■ -i lid r 111':!"! I (■■•'.I.'. 1;:! Jlr' i, m 'I* * m i t 282 ] The CORMORANT. Le Cormoran. Buf. Pekeanus-Carho. Linn, and Gmel. Phalacroccrax* Gefner and Briflbn. Morfex, Gefn. and Aldrov. Carlo Aquaticui. Gefner. Corvus Aquaticus. Gefner. Aldrov. Johnlt. &c. * 'TpHE name of this bird was formerly pro-. •* nounccd cormaran or cormarin, being con- tradted from corvus marinus ox fea-raven -f* .* the Greeks ftiled it the bald-raven. Yet it refem- bles the raven in nothing but its black plumage, and even this is downy, and of a lighter (liade. The Cormorant is a pretty large bird with * In Greek ^aXaxgoxo^a({> from ^«7k«K^o; balcif and xog«| a raven. The Spanilh name Cuervo Calvo has the fame {ignifica> tion : and the notion of ixiater or fea-ravtn is implied in modern Latin, in Italian, in German, and Silefian, by the appellations of Corvus AquaticuSy Corvo Marino, Wajfer - Rale, See - Rale. In Swedifh it is termed Hafu-tjaeder : in Norwegian Siary ; and in the iile of Feroe Hupling : in Polifh Kruknuodny. In fome of the French provinces it is ftiled Crot-Pefcherot, or Dirt-fjher, + Caius, or Dr. Kay, in Gefner, conjedures, that cormorant is a corruption of corvorant, corvus varans, or devouring raven : and Pennant and Latham have adopted corvorant. But it is doubtful whether, for the fake of a fpecious etymology, we (hould alter a word of fuch common ufe in our language : the derivation afllgned in the text is befides more probable.— 7*. webbed rt. r. Isc. •■ ly pro- ng con- •f- ; the refem- lumage, (liade. rd with id KO§a| <* ; fignifica- in modern ellations of RaBe. In ry ; and m ome of the 'morant is a anjen : and is doubtful luld alter a ion afligned webbed 2\r2i8 THE COl^MOB.AKT. '3! ■ . ki.,- ; ■$. ^:' 'mm .IH'll'. ;!L ^ ill i'l; r> '• ' M ■ || ! ■' ^iii J.' I ••.n «tj , '. ■ ■ ■ ' '' I '1'' i'i .f .■.■'i- ill r:'!ii 1 ..1 if. M, eORMORAKT. 2^3 webbed feet, which fwlms and dives with equal facility, and devours multitudes of fifh: it is nearly of the bulk of the goofe, of a narrower form, rather thin than thick, and lengthened by a large tail more fpread than lual in the aquatic birds 5 this tail conlifts of fourteen ftiff feathers like thofe of the woodpecker's tail; they are black gloffed with green, like almoft all the reft of the plumage : the back is waved with black feftoons on a brown ground ; but thefe ihades vary in different individuals, for Salernc fays, that the colour of the plumage is fome- times a greenifh black : all of them have two white fpots on the outfide of the legs j with a white gorget, which embraces the top of the neck like a chin-piece : there are white feathery filaments like briftles, ftuck on the top of the neck and the upper part of the head, of which the front and the fides are bald * : a fkin, alfa naked, clothes the under fide of the bill, which is ftraight to the point, where it is bent into a very Iharp hook. The Cormorant is one of the few birds which have four toes connected together by a fingie piece of membrane. We might thence infer that it is a very great fwimmer ; yet it remains lefs in the water than many other aquatic birds. :;vii m<'. ^ * " Some animals are naturally bald, as the oftriches^ and the « water ravens, which thence derive their Greek name/* P/r;/. lib. ii. 3?. whofe , i'!"^!;}! !|ff ^ CORMORANT. whole ibles are neither fo continuous nor ii^ Inroad : it frequently flies and perches on trees. AriAotle a{<;ribes this habit to it alone of all th« palmiped birds * ; but it is common to the pe- lican, the booby, the frigate, the anhinga, and the tropic bird ; and what is fingular, thefe birds, tiogether with it, form the fmall number of the aquatic fp^cies which have the four toes con- nedtcd by continuous membranes. This coin- cidence has induced modern ornithologies tp range five or fix birds under the generic name oi pelican "t*. But the analogy mufl be ftrained for the fake of a fcholaflic generalization 5 whenj, from the refemblance of a fingle part, the fame appellation is given to fpecies fo different from each other as that of the tropic bird, for inflan^e, and that of the common pelican. The Cormorant is fo dextrous in fifhing, and fo voracious, that when it vifits a pool, it com- mits alone more havoc than a whole flock of other pifcivorous birds. Fortunately, it refides almofl conflantly on the fea-lfhores, and feldon^ occurs in inland countries "!(,, As it can remain a long time plunged §, and fwims under water * Hift. Anitnd, lib. viii. 3. f Klein and Linnxus have formed this family. The Cormo> rant there figures, under the appellation fekcams carlo ; the fri- gate, under that of pelecanus aqui/us, 8cc. t " On the 27th of January (1779) a Cormorant was brought *' to me, which was juft killed on the fide of the river Ouche : it ** had perched on a willow." Hxtraa of a Utter from M. Hebert. % Schwenckfeld. with with CORMORANT. 28s with the rapidity of a dart, its prey fcarce ever efcapes, and it alinoft always emerges holding a fi{h acrofs in its bill : to fwallow the vidlim it employs a fingular expedient; it tofles up the fi(h in the air, and dextroufly catches the head in fall- ing, fo that the fins lie flat and favour the paflage down the throat, while the membranous Ikin that lines the Cinder fide cf its bill ftretches to admit the whole body of the fifii, which is often very large in proportion to the neck of the bird. In fome countries, as in China, and formerly in England*, the Ikill of the Cormorant in fifh- ing was turned to profit : for, by buckling a ring about the lower part of its neck, to prevent de- glutition, and accuftoming it to return with its acquifitions in its bill to its mafter, it was made, fo to fay, a domeftic fifher. On the rivers of China, the Cormorants, thus buckled, are perched on the prows of the boats, and on a fignal being given, by ftriking the water with an oar, they plunge into that element, and quickly emerge with a fifh, which is taken out of their bill ; and this toil is continued, till its mafter, fatisfied with the earnings, loofens its collar, and permits it to fifh for its own account -f . Hunger alone gives activity to the Cofmo^ rant j it becomes lazy and fluggifti after its ap- petite is glutted. It inclines to fat, and though • According to Lynceus in. Willughby. f Niereirtberg. Voyage a la Chine, par dc Feynes ; Parity 1630, /. 173. Hift. Gen. des Voy, torn. vi. p. 221. 3 it ■iM ^1 ■km '4 t* * 1 286 CORMORANT. !■ m it has a very ftrong fmell, and an unplcafant tafle, it is not always defpifed by failors, to whom the limplefl: and coarfeft fare is often more deli- cious than the moil exquifite viands to our deli- cate palates*. The Cormorant occtirs in the remoteft lati- tudes ; in the Philippines -f, in New Holland J, and even in New Zealand §. In the bay of Sal- dana there is an illand ftiled the I/Ian J of Cormo^ rants \\f becaufe it is covered, as it were, with thefe birds. They are not lefs common in other parts near the Cape of Good Hope. ** Some- ** times flocks," fays the Vifcount de Querhoent, ** are feen of two or three hundred in the road " off the Cape. They are not timid; which ** is no doubt becaufe they are little molefted. They are naturally indolent: I have feen them reft fix hours on the buoys of our an- " chors. Their bill is furnifhed below with a " Ikin of a fine orange colour, which extends " under the throat a few lines, and dilates at pkafure. The iris is of a fine light green ; « (< tt * " Thiir flelh has an exceeding rank fifliy tafte; however it is ** pretty good, being very fat." Dampier.^-^** We killed a great " number of Cormorants, which we faw perched on their nefts in « the trees, and which were roafted or drefled in a ftove, and af- ** forded us excellent difhes." Cook's Firfl Voyage, t It is there called Colocolo. See Philof. Tranf. N" 285, and Hift. Gen. dcs Voy. /c/«. x./. 412. '" - , trii.j., \ Cook. § Ibid. ■ " • Flacourt. . , . "the 'M 44 it U CORMORANT. ag; the pupil black ; the orbit edged with a violet " ikin : the tail is formed like that of the wood- " pecker, containing fourteen hard (harp quills. •* The old ones are entirely black; but the young ones are all gray the iirlt year, and have not the orange fkin under the bill. — ** They were all very fat *." The Cormorants are alfo very numerous in Senega], according to M. Adarfon-)-. They feem alfo to be the Plutons of the ifland Mauri- tius, as defcribed by the traveller Leguat J i and, ♦ Remarks made in 1774, by tlie Vifcountde Qucrhoent, of '/ii majcfty's navy. t •* We arrived on the 8th Oftober at Lamnai (a lit .le ^ land of ** the Niger) ; the trees were there covered with fuch a prodigious ** multitude of Cormorants, that the Laptots, in lefs than half an ** hour, filled a canoe with yoiuig ones which had been takrn by the ** hand, or felled with fticks, and with old ones, of which feveral " dozens fell at every (hot." f^oynge au Senegal, p. 80. } " On a rock, near the ifland Mauritius, came birds which we *• called Plutons (Pluto's), becaufe they are entirely black like ra- *• vensi they have alfo nearly the fame (hape and fize, but their " bill is longer, and hooked at the end ; their foot is that of the duck : '* tliefe birds live fix months of the year at f:a ; thufe in the neigh- " bourhood repaired to our rock, where tlv: v 'pitched. They have ** a cry as ftrong almoft as the lowing of a calf, and they make a great • noife in the night. During the day they were very ftill, and lb " tame that they fulFered us to take tht eggs from under them with- " out ftirring; they lay in holrs jf the moft projefting rock tliat ** they can find. Thefe birds are very fat, and ill-taftcd, unwliole- " feme, and abominably ilinking. Though their eggs arc liaidly « better than their flefli, we ate tliem in neccffity ; they are white, " and as large as thofe of our hens ; when thefe were taken, they « retired into their holc5, and fought with each other, till they « were all over bloody." Voyage di Francois Lcguat ; Afnftcrdam, 1708, tm. \\,pp, 45, 46. what '■; I • irf '*( r ^K•Ml!t' m ft«8 CORMORANT. m I ill m ii ■ ■ t . i!!i^ i;!&>i I^ ?l f •:;:."yt ItiAV what is fingular, they fupport alike the heat of that climate and the cold of Siberia. It appears, however, that the fevere winters of the northern regions oblige them to migrate : for thofe which in fummer inhabit the lakes in the neighbourhood of Selenginflcoi, where they are c^llGdlac/ans, have been obferved to retire in autumn to Lake Bai- kal *, there to fpend the winter. The fame mud be the cafe with the ouriles, or Cormorants of Kamtfchatka,well defcribed byKrafcheninicOff-f*, and indicated in the fabulous relation of the Kamtfchadales, who fay that thefe birds have bartered their tongue with the wild goats, for the tufts of white briftles on their neck and thighs J : yet is it falfe that thefe birds have no tongue ; and Steller avers, that they found day and night with a voice like the note of a little hoarfe trumpet. Thefe Cormorants of Kamtfchatka pafs the night, gathered in flocks, on the projedlions of craggy rocks, from which they often fall to the ground during their fleep, and then become the prey of the foxes,which arc ever on the watch. In the day-time, the Kamtfchadales fearch for their • ** The inhabitants of thefe cantons believe thit when the hdt' ** lans make their nefls on the top of a tree, it grows dry ; in fal!^ ** we faw that all re trees where were neds of thefe birds hsd wi« ** thered ; but perhaps they chufe trees already decayed." Gmeliti ; Foyage tn Siberie, torn. i. p. 24.4. f Hift. Gen. des Voy. torn. xix. /. 272. J Idem. /o«. i./. 272, eggs. CORMORANT, aS9 eggs, at the rifk of tumbling upon the precipices, br dafhing into the fea. And to catch the birds themfelves, they faften a running knot to the end of a rod: the heavy, indolent Cormorant, when once feated, cares not to ftir^ but only turns his head from right to left to avoid the noofe, which is at laft flipped on his neck* The head of the Cormorant is fenfibly flat^ like that of moft diving birds j its eyes are placed Very much forward, and near the corners of the bill, whofe fubftance is very hard, and fhining like horn; the feet are black, fhort, and very ftrong; the tarfus is very broad, and flattened lidewi/ej the middle nail is ferrated interiorly* like that of the heron 5 the pinions are very lohgj but clothed with fhort quills, which makes it fly heavily, as Schwenckfeld obferves* This natu- ralift is the only perfon who aflferts that he faw a particular little bone, which rifing behind the cranium, defcends in form of a thin blade, and is inferted into the mufeles of the neck* ,-1 !■?! mm M [A] Specific chari£ler of the Cormorant, Pe/ecanus Car ho : ** Its " vAl is rounded, its body black, its head fomewhat crefted." It makes its neft with fticks, fea-weed, grafs, &c. and lays fix or f^ven eg|g;s, which are white and of an oblong fhape. VOL. VIII. 'i;«ii m m j; :■«•-. I 290 1 I m 0 I The S H A G. Le Petit Cormoran, eu Lb Nigaud*. Buf. Ptlecanus Graculus, Linn, and Gmcl. Fhalacrocorax Minor, firiiT. Graculus Palmipes 1 ^j^^^^^ g.j^^^ ^^^ Corvus Jiquattcus Minor. 3 T&e Shag, or Crane. Ray and Will. 'TpHE heavinefs or rather indolence natural to •*' all the Cormorants, is ftill more remark- able in the prefent ; which has, for that reafon, been ftyled the Shag or Ninny (Niais ou Nigaud J. This fpecies is not lefs difFufed than the for- mer : it occurs particularly in the iflands and the extremities of the fouthern continents. Cook and Forfter found it on the illand of Georgia j which, though not inhabited, and almoft inaccef- fible by man, is flocked with thefe little Cormo- rants, which fhare the domain with the penguins, and lodge among the tufts of rufhy grafs, the only vegetable produdion in that dreary tradt. Statcn-land is fimilar, and contains likewife great numbers of birds. An ifland in the Straits of Magellan was fo full of them, that Captain Cook called it Shag IJIand. It is in thefe extremities * i. e. The Little C!< i \ ■( ,f >■■ I- I' i if; I J m 'IS' \A ■ Vil-I .■.■,-h,,i..,'!ti 1 ■ ■ ■ .i.i''t,. •! IV ■V- *l ff i. 11 296 SHAG. under the feathers there is a very fine dowiii as thick as that of the fwan } fmall iilky fea- thers, clofe like velvet, cover the head]} from which Perrault infers, that the cormorant is not the bald raven, pbalacrocorax, of the ancients. But he ought to have qualified this afTertiont having himfelf obferved before, that on the fea- fhores there occurs a great cormorant different from the frnaU cormorant or /hag : and thia bald-headed great cormorant is, as we have f^eni the true fbalacrocorax of the ancients, [A] Specific charafter of the Shag, PekcoHus-Graeulus : *< Iti| f tail is rounded; its bo4x blackj, belpw thrown; it h^s tvifclvq »* wing-quills.'* [ >97 ] The SEA SWALLOWS, Le Hirondelles de Mer, Buff. jr\ F the multitude of names * transferred for ^^^ the moft part improperly from the land animals to thofe of the fea, a few have been happily applied ; fuch as that of the Swallow, given to a fmall family of pifcivorous birds, which refemble our fwallows by their long wings and forked tail, and by their continual circling on the furface of the water. As the land fwallows flutter fwiftly in the fields or round our dwellings in fearch of winged infedts, fo the Sea Swallows circle and glance rapidly on the liquid plains, and nimbly fnatch the little fifli which play on the furface. Such refem- blance in the form and habits of thefe two Jcinds of birds might, in fome meafure, juftify their receiving the fame appellation : yet they diflfer eflentially in the ihape of their bill, and the ftrudture of their feet. The Sea Swallows have fmall membranes ihrunk between their ^ In German See Schwalbe: in Swedifti,and the other northern languages, Taerrtt 7>r»*, Stirni whence Turner derives the name Sterna^ adopted by nomenclators to diftinguiih this genus of t)irds. toes. ti . I, A. mm ii;«(. ■I 298 SEA SWALLOWS. toes, which are not adapted for fwimming * : for nature feems to have beilowed on thefc birds only the power of their wings, which arc extremely long, and fcooped like tliofe of the common fwallows. They likewife glide and circle, fink and rife jn the air, crolFing and en- twining their various irregular track in a thou- fand directions -f ; their flight is impelled by ftarts of momentary caprice, and led by the fudden glimpfe of their fugitive prey. They fnatch the vidlim on wing, or alight only a moment on the furface -, for they are averfe to fwim, though their half- webbed feet might con- tribute to that purpofe. They refide commonly on the fea-fliores, and frequent alfo lakes and great rivers. The Sea Swallows, in flying, fcream loud and flirill like the martins, efpe- cially when, in calm weather, they rife to a great height in the air, or when they congregate in fummer to make difl:ant excurfions, but parti- cularly in the breeding feafon, at which time they are more than ever refllefs and clamorous, perpetually redoubling their motions and their cries : and as they are always extremely nume- rous, we pan hardly, without being ftunned with \fi • Hence Aldrovandus, looking upon the Sea Swallows as little gulls, dilVmguilhes them by the name of cloven-footed gulls, li&, xix. 10. i/e laris jljlpcdibus. > f " Sailors call thofe nimble birds found at fea, croifeurs (crojfers} *' wiien they are largo ; goekttes when they are fmall." Remarkt made hjf the Vifcount de ^crhoint, the SEA SWALLOWS. 299 the noife, approach the (hore, where they have difpofed their eggs or colle(fted their young. They arrive in fl xks on our vt^eftern coafts in the beginning of May * : moft of them remain "wiihout quitting the beach ; others advance farther, and following the rivers, feek the lakes and the large pools -f . Every where they live on fmall fifh, and fometimes they even fnap winged infedts in the air. The report of fire- arms does not intimidate them, and this fignal of danger, fo far from driving them ofF, feems rather to attradt them 5 for the inftant the fowler hits one of a flock, the reft croud about their wounded companion, and drop with it to the furface of the water. The land fwallows are Ukewife remarked to gather at the noife of a gun, or at leaft they are not frighted away. Does not this habit proceed from a blind fecu-. rity ? Birds that are hurried incefTantly with a rapid flight, are more incautious than fuch as fquat in the furrows or perch on the trees j they have not learnt, like thefe, to obferve and dif- tinguifh us, and to fly from their moft dange- rous enemies. The feet of the Sea Swallows difTer not from thofe of the land fwallows, except that they are femi-palmated ; for in both they are very fmall * Obfervation made on thofe of Picardy, by M. Baillon. f As that of Indre, near Dieuze in Lorraine, which, including its windings and inlets, is feven leagues in cumpafs. and .'& •ti I '■• 'II, ■ I n m' ' !.« |, fi m t» .It*:- H It > " '\^'. 1 ' ^1. '1 ■'■I'M' '„j*j'/11'' l]l' \(. 300 SEA SWALLOWS. ■':« '[■ fj and (hort, and unfit for walking. The pointed nails which arm the toes (eem not more neccf- fary to the Sea Swallow than to the land one, fince thefe birds equally feize the prey with the bill : that of the Sea Swallow is flraight, ta- pered to a point, finooth, not indented, and flat at the fides. The wings are fo long, that the bird when at rcfl feems incumbered by them, and in the air appears all wing. But if this great power of flight makes the Sea Swallow an inhabitant of the air, it has other properties that diftinguifh it as an inhabitant of the water : for, befides the »fcallopcd membrane between the toes, a fmall portion of the leg, as in almofl all the aquatic birds, is bare, and the body is co- vered with a thick and very clofe down. This family of Sea Swallows includes a num- ber of fpecies, moil of which have crofTed the ocean, and flocked its fhores. They are found fpread from the feas, the lakes *, and the great rivers •f' of the north, as far as the vaft bounda- ries of the Southern Ocean J ; and they occur ^m •.!«. I • Even their name taen: OTterns, in the northern languages, fig- jiifies lake. f Gmelin fays, that he favv innumerable flocks of them on the Jenifea, near Mangafea in Siberia. Voyage enSJiene, torn. ii. /. 56, X Captain Cook faw Sea Swallows near the Marquefas, which are iflands feen by Mendana.— The fame navigator was attended by thcfe birds from the Cape of Good Hope to the 41 il degree of fouth latitude. — Captain Wallis met with them in the 27th degree of latitude and the io6th degree of weft longitude, on the great Soiuh Sea.—" Tiie low iflands within the tropics, and the whole of « the SEA SWALLOWS. 301 in almofl all the intermediate regions*. Wc (hill adduce the proofs in defcribing the differ- ent fpccies. •' the Archipelago which furrounds Otaheite* are filled with «« flights of Sea Swallows, boobies, frigaia, 6cc." F$rfitr.'-' ** The Sea Swallows rood under the buihes in Otaheite ; Mr. «' Forfler, in an excurfton before fun-rife, took feveral that were •• deeping along the road." Cook. * * Sea Swallows are found in the Philippines, in Guiana, and Afcenfion. We may recognize them in Dampier's defcription of birds which he met with near New Guinea. •• On the 30th of July, *' all the birds which had hitherto accompanied us, quitted the ** veflel; but we faw others of a different kind, which were as large - as lapwings, with a gray plumage, the fpace abbut their eyes *' black, their bill red and pointed, their wings long, and their tail •* forked as in fwallows."— ** On the 13th of July 1773, in lati- ** tude 35® oa', and longitude a* 48', during a violent north-weft «' wind, M. deQuerhoent faw many petrels and Sea Swallows; thefe •* were at leafl a half fmaller than the petrels ; their wings were ** very long, and fhaped like thofe of our martin : they ufually keep ** in flockf, and come very near veffels." :Pi^l H'l; li- ;L- •,»■■■ >y: ^:l!- 4t* m u M ''■!!!,' 304 GkEAT SEA SWALLdl'^. long, that the tail projeds out of their h'liU Thofe that are taken and fometimes fed in gar-* dens*, refufe not flefh, which they will not touch in the ftate of liberty. Thefe birds pair on their arrival about the firft days of May. Each female drops in a fmall hole on the naked fand two or three eggs, very large in proportion to her bulk. The place chofen by them for this purpofe is always fcreen-i cd from the north wind, and fituated below fome downs. If a perfon approach the nefls, the pa- rents will rufli precipitately from aloft, and flut- ter round him with loud reiterated fcreams of anger and inquietude. Their eggs are not all of the fame colour, fbme being very brown, others gray, and others- almoft greenifli : thefe laft probably belong to young pairs 5 for they are rather fmaller, and it is known that of all birds which have coloured eggs, thofe of old ones are deeper ftained, rather thicker, and lefs pointed than thofe of young ones, efpeciall) in their firft layings. The fe- male of this fpecies covers only during the night, or in the day when it rains : at all other i' i^i • " I have had fevera! in my garden, where I coald not keep them »* Iong,becaufc of the annoyance of their perpetual cries, which were " continued even during the night. Thefe captive birds loftalmofl •» entirely their chearfulnefs ; fbrmed to fport in the air, they feel " incumbered on the ground, their fliort feet hamper them on ever/ •« obllade they mtct." Extras of a Memoir of M. Saillon, on the Common Ternst from which we take the details of the hiftory of thefe birds. times. Hf GREAT SEA SWALLOW. sn *( «( «< times iht leaves hef eggs to the heat of the ftin. « When the fpring is fine," M. BaillonL writes me> "and the incubatioft was begun in «* WafCft Weather> the three eggs, their ufual " numbef> are hatched in three fucceflive •* daySj in the order they Were laid ; the deve- *' iopement In the two firft being forwarded by ** the infliaence of the folar beams. If the wea- ther was rainy or cloudy in the commencement, that efFe<5t is not perceived, and the eggs burfi: together. The fame remark has been ifiade " with regard to fea-larks and fea-pies j and it ** may reafonably be extended to all birds which •* lay on the naked beach. " The young 8ea Swallows, when juft hatch- '* ed, are clothed with a thick down, light gray, " and l]3finkled with fome black fpts on the " head and the back. Their parents fetch " them bits of fi/h, particularly liver and gills : •* and when the mother comes at night to co- ** ver the unhatched egg, the callow chicks creep under her wings. Thefe maternal cares laft but a few days ; the young arflemble at *' night, and lie clofe together. Nor do tlie parents long nourifh them by the bill : with- out defcending each time to the ground, they " drop, or fo to fpeak, rain upon them food : the " young ones, now voracious, fight and quarrel " with each other, and fcream loudly. Yet th© ** parents continue to watch them from aloft in ** the air ; a cry which they give as they glide VOL. VIII, X " ^^&Hg t( ft tt t€ f 'ill*" 4J. i ^:A n m ^■1 1 \%\' 'MS V n \';i .|:''.^: ■\m '^W\ It I!; I i >'-:i« Jfll 306 GREAT SEA SWALLOW. 4€ t€ €t i€ €S €t «< it tt €t it tt it tt tt tt tt it along conveys the alarm, and inflantly the brood fquat clofe on the fand. It would be difficult to difcover them, did not the fhrieks of the mother betray the fpots where they lurk. They make no effort to efcape, but may be gathered by the hand like ftones. ** They fly not till more than fix weeks after they are hatched, it requiring all that time for their broad wings to grow; like the land fwallows, which remain longer in the nefl than other birds of the fame fize, and fally out better feathered. The firA feathers of the young Terns are light gray on the head, the back, and the wings 5 the true colours appear not till after moulting. But they have all the fame colours when they return in fpring. They depart from the coafls of Picardy about the middle of Augufi: ; and I remarked that lad year, 1779, they chofe a north-eaft wind.** [A] Specific charafler of the Common Tern, Sterna-Hirundo , *< Its two outermoft tail-^uills are parted with black and wliite.'* ^. t 307 ] the LESSER SEA SWALLOW. La Petite Hirondelle de Mer. Buff, 0 SECOND SPECIES, Sterna Minuta, Linn, and Gmel- Sterna Minor. Briff". Larus Pifcator. Gefner, Aldrov. Johnfl. &C. ^he Leffer Tern *. StilKngfleet, i*enn. and Lath. 'T^His little Sea Swallow refembles the pre- ^ ceding fo clofely in its colours, that they are diftinguifhed Only by their conftant and con- liderable diiFerence of fize. The prefent is not larger than a lark, though as clamorous and roving as the firft ipecies -j-. Yet will it live a prifoncr, if caught in a fnare. In Belon's time, the fiflicrmen floated a crofs of wood, in the middle of which was faftened a fmall fifli for bait, with limed twigs iluck to the four cor- ners, on which the bird darting was entangled by the wings. Thefe little Sea Swallows, as well as the great ones, frequent our feas, lakes, and rivers, and retire alfo on the approach of winter. • Near Strafburg it Is called Fifcherl'm : In Polifli Riitu. f *' It is fo noify as to ftun the air, and to moleft the people who ** paTs the fummer near marihes and brooks." Ecljn. ^ ;• '■■■iL km -ti ■ (;h» I 'MM J- m m m ""1' ;■<'!■'' i'i ■■■: V'H'j- ,;:(■;] :\:! [A] Specific charafter of the Leffer Tern, Siert/a Minuta : " Its « bod/' k white, its back hoary, its front and eye-brows white." i. ,.f •'4- ■i.'i'.rt , * ir''"- m C 8«« 3 m I The GUIFETTE. THIRD S P M C I E S. Sterna Navia» Gmel. and BriiT. Ralluj Larlfortnis. Liniir 7h* Kin-'Mveiu. Klein. The Cloven-footed Gull. Albin. The Kamt/chatkan Tern, Penn. and Lath. 1'« n \ \ f'rl i f* 'T^ HIS Sea fallow is named Guifette on the coaft of Picardy. Its plumage, which is whit*? under the body, is agreeably variegated with black behind the head, with brown clouded with rufty on the hack, and with a handfome gray fringed with whitifh on the wings. It is of a middle fize between the two preceding, but differs in feveral particulars with regard to ha- bits and ceconomy. Baillon, who compaics it with the great fea-fwallow, fays, that it is dif- tinguiHied by many charadbers : i . It does not continually feek its food on the fea ; it is not ptf- civorous, but rather infedtivorous, feeding as much on flies and other infedts, which it fnaps in the air, as on thofe which it catches on the water : 2. It is not fo clamorous as the great fea-fwallow : 3. It does not lay on the naked fand, but cliu^s in the marihes a tuft of hecbft * Of BLACK GUIFETTB. 309 •r mofs in fome infulated hillock amidfl the water or on its brink ; it carries thither fbme dry ftalks of hfirbs, and drops its eggs, which are generally three in number: 4. It covers ailiduoufly feventeen days, and all the chicks burft the flell the fartie day. The young cannot fly till after a month, and yet they retire early with their parents, and of- ten before the greater terns. They are feen flying along the Seine and the Loire at the time of their paHTage. Their flight refembles that of the greater terns ; they ire even continually in the air : they fly oftener fkimming the fur- face of the water, and rife very high> and with great rapidity. tWi^Mi The BLACK GUIFETTE5 or, tk^ SCARE-CROW. Til, ;■ : rilj- ' ii 4ii'' I ;■■;'rn (M ■' '.■ .1" ■> . '■■ ■.: < : I, rO V RT ff SPECIES, Sterna fifjipts, Linn, and Gmel. Stetna Nigra. Briff. Larus Niger. Gefn. Aldrov. Johnft. Ray, Scz. The Scare Crow. Will. The flack Tern. Penn. and I.ath. Co much does this bird refemble the precede ing, that in Picardy it has been ftiled the Black Guifette, The name oifcars^crow (epou" X 3 ventail) ■I ,;■•', ■■•'ll I. '.; ! 1: ,;• ); .■,p.„ . 'I i I ' . 'I V,, I ' l1l ' I r ItLu 310 BLACK GUIFETTE. ventail) jt probably received from the dark qU nereous caft of its head, neck, and body: itf wings only ar^ of a handfome gray,^^hich is tliQ common garb of the fearfwallows. li is nearly as l^rge ^s the common guifette: Us bill is black, and its (mall legs are of a dull red* The male is dii^inguifhed by a white fpot placed under ^he throat, Thefe birds have nothing mournful but their plumagij, for they are very cheerful, fly incefr fantly> and, like the other fwallo\ys, make a thoufand turnings and windings in the air. They neflle among the reeds in marOies, and lay three or four eggs of a dirty-green, with blackr ifh fpots, that form a zone near the middle ^. They alfo purfue winged infeds, and refemble the preceding ipecies in all their habits '\'. • Wi!Iughby. f Ol/fevuktiom communicated hy M. Baillen, 9/ MontMuil-Juf'imr. [A] Specific charafler of the Black Terr, Sterna Fifpes : « Its ff body is black, its back cinereous, its belly white, its feet red-- " diih." It is very numerous in the Tartarian deferts. t 311 ] ^\]^' '- The G A C HEX. 1.; -• FIFTH SPECIES. ': .i> Sterna Nigra. Linn, an-' GmeU Sterna jitricapilla, firifll The Lefer Sea Siuall Albln. A F I N E black covers the ncad, the throat, the neck, and the top of the bread, like a hood or domino; the back is gray, and the belly white : it is rather larger than the guifettes. The fpecies feems not to be very common on our coads, but it occurs on thofe of America, where Father Fcuillee has defcribed it*, and * It feems to be indicated by the name hufc in the following paf- fage of the navigator Dampier. ** We faw fome boobies and bu/cs, ** and at night we took one of the latter : it was different both in « colour and figure from any that I had ever feen ; its bill was long ** and flender« as in all other birds of this kind ; its foot flat like ** that of ducks i its tail longer, broad, and more forked than that *' of /wallows i its wings very long; the upper fide of its head ** coally black ; fmall black flripes round its eyes, and a pretty " broad white circle which inclofes them on either fide ; Its craw, *< its belly, and the upper fide of its wings, white ; but the back and ^* the under fide of the wings pale black or fmokey. . . . Thef« " birds are found in mofl places between the tropics, as well as in *" the Eaft Indies, and on the coafl of Brazil ; they pafs the night on «' land, fo that they never <»'^ "' fe than thirty leagues to fea, un- *• lefs they are beaten by fbciw Itorm. When they hover about ** vefTels, they generally perch at night, and fuffer themfelves to be ** taken without fUrring ; they make their nelU on the hillocks or « the adjacent fea-rocks." X 4 . obferved ./**: -Mil ' .i I >:' ' n i ..■trif -■-. '\'' 1< :■ ■■ ^;i4bi'ii if.' ^^o. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 IAS [28 11^5 ■^ ILi 12.2 ^ |i£ 12.0 I.I s."^ i L25 yiu iii.6 J^ 7] .%. /. HiolDgrafAiic Sdences Corporation ^^ <• as WBT MAM STtHT WHSTn,N.Y. 145M (71*)t7a-4S03 4^ \ ":»'fci:' ..,!)•. ;.1 i .::, 3" CACHET. obfcrvcd that it lays on a bare rock two eggs, very large for its fize, and mottled with dull purplifh fpots on a whiti(h ground. The fub« jedt examined by tki& travell«p waft larger than the one defcribed by Briflbn, who has nottnth- flanding ranged them togetbei under the name of Gachet, [A] Spefcific charaajcr of'th^ Sterna Ni^ra, : » I$< body U hoaiy, « its head and bill black, its feet red." vii.^J -.l — — — ,( ■I ■■!• — ■- ■ \ t' .. I M l,< I C. :> : :inrt;; ft - ,: ■ 4 ■•^' ^^ 3if Aft iflgnAQJ it ^ ai$ )s of the of cUr A white, h bUck.v rabore-j ?■ »•^ r . ^ 1. L . • •I S E If E NT H SPECIES, ^tertiA fuli^ino/a. Gmel. , •. Tbe B^g-Rird. Forfter ahd^Cook. ■•'''' T'^kMM^. HawkeAygrtk. and Danpios. ^ ^ii>f. &^ 7V«. ?enn. aad Latlu .; i ;' » ';;uJ -. ., Vi^ npHPiUQH all the, fea iwallows have ^eat * extent of wings, that; chara.. ■*)■. /i*,''!? ■■<,'[ V •' • , . ■ ' ' . * . "■ ." .'■''.''. ,«.: !f::.- { -. ).».i,. .,r"?.yii:^'K Ui.< •J- •' J, ■ ,1 i'ir; V 'ii ]. ,*SJ. IS f l»5 J The GREAT SEA-SWALLOW of C A Y E N NE, EIGHTH SPECIES, t-Jf r ^oa •O-ivr Sterna Ct^antnfis, GmeU ST/^r CiQtnne Tent, Lathr ..V rr^ HIS fpecies might be filled the greatefi fea-^ ■*• Jwallow, for it exceeds, by two inches, the jcommpn fea-fwallow of Europe, It is found in Cayenne : and^ like moil of the preceding, it has all the under fide of the body white; a black hood on the back of the head, and the feathers of the mantle fringed on a gray ground with dilute yello\^ifli pr rufly. *■ V ■■s;l ir We know only thefe eight fpecies of fea? fwallows : and we remoyp frpn^ tl^is family of birds the cinereous tern of Briffon, becaufe it$ wings are Jhorti whereas the extent of wings is t}>e chief ch^radter by wl^ic)i nature has diflin- guifhed them« and is |he fource of all thei^ gth^r habits. i»i« ■■-•;.. ;,L ■ I m ",> 1 : ft i i I I *» ■m I i % I II I 3«6 ] m 11 'The TROPIC BIRD. L'OiSEAV pu Tropique, ^« Le EAIlLi* en-Queue*. Btiffl .v' . 117 E have iecii birds travel from north to fquth, and with boundlefs courfe traverfc iU the climateSi of the globe : others we ihaU vkw cocifined to the polar regions^ the kfl children o£ expiring nature* invaded by the hor- it)rs 0£ eternal ice. The prefent, on the con- trary,, feenas to attend the car of the fun under ihf l^urning zone, defined hf the tropics •f : fiying. perpetually ^midfl the tepid zephyrs, without ftraying beyond this verge of the eclip;- tic, it informs the navigator of his approach to the flaming barriers of the folar track. Hence it has been calfed the Tropic Bird, be- cauie it refldes within the limits of die torrid 2Sone; «,l- r^^'. . t<- .t HJ i'l'v; w< ^••ti'^^it zj<-i ■ The moft fequefttered ifltnds of India smd America, fituatcd ncareft the equator, fccm t^ S 4: ,rk*'^h ^ri ' ' • In French Pailk-en'Cut, or Fetu-en-cuh (flraMrum-arik) an4 ^ueu-de-fleche (arrow -tail) : the Dutch name Pjlfiatirt, an4 the Spanifh Raho-de-junco» fignify the fame, f Probably in this view Linnaeus has given it the poetical name of Phi^eton, Phaeton ^tbtrtui* favourite X"220 -TITF, COMMOJiT TROPIC BIRD. .".'!".•« iU> \ ■• J": I. '..'I: />: !■ 'M../* :::'ir^a:(!i'|, 1, Vt 'I'M f^:- J I'- I... .11 !'%■' •^ m^u T R O P I C B I R D. m lavDurits haunts of thefe birds ; fuch as that of Aicenfioa« Sl Helena, Rodrigue, and ifles of France and Bourbon. In the vaft expanfc of the northern Atlantici they have itray«d to Bermudas, whkh is their &rtheft exctarfioA be- yond the bounds of the torrid zone '* : they tnU verfe the whole of this fpace 'f, and occur again towards the fouthern limit, whert they inhabit the chain of iflands difcovered by Captain Cook»' U^Q Marqueias, Eafter iiland, the Society and Fricndty iflands. He iRxind them alio in open fea near thefe latitudes j: : far though their zp- pearancc may be regarded as the token of tfxe proximity of land, they ufually rove many hun- dred leagues, and fometimes venture to prodi- gious diilwices |. - J /, ia. V ^ ' ' iUiS'^ ^^ ■ ^-^^^ ij '!?>*•« ^i^H^j^av^fS^Jv^tP'^^? ;'''•'^^!'*'':'i;!l^ Bcfides ^■-> *i^-) .#-?5i ^ti^vf -»*^ Tfifi-^^ltM''\^_ * " One feldom fees thefe birds except bet«rcea the tropics aad <* at pxat dHhrnce from land ; however, one of the places when •( litey muldply b near nine degrees beyond the tropic of Cancer 3 ** I metn the fiermndas, where thefe birds breed in the delts of •* the high rocks dot gird thefe iflands.*' Catefy. f mie Tropic Birds are found in the greater and die lefler An- ^es. See Dutirtre, Laiiat, Rochefort, &c.— " In going by £» ** from Fort St. Peter to Fort Royal, in Mftrtinico, di(l^t fevea '* leagues, we obferve lofty cliffs that environ the ifland; in the <• holes of thde rocks the Tropic Birds hatch." Rtmark of M, /k Im Mtrde, kmg^t ftjf/tcian at Cajemte. % The ifland which Tafman difcovered in aa* 56^ huitiicLi fomii^ received.thenameof^^0(Mr/. .4. % *• W^ fftw a Tropic Bird in 20* latitude, nordi, and ^36* lott- « gkude. I was furprised to find them at foch » gscM diftaaec ** from land. Ov captain, who bad madfr fiiveral voyage* to. <* America, obferving my furprize, alTor^ed ne that Uiefe bi^ leit '* the iflands in the moiMng to earn dxeir fubfiftence on the vaft ^*- ' V •* ocean. - )< ! r t .<■ ■ r i I I (li TROPIC BIRD. Befides its powerful and rapid flight, the broad and entirely palmated feet of the Tropic Bird enable it» when fatigued with its diftant journies, to reft on the furface of the water* *. Its toes are connected by a membrane as in the cormorants, the boobies, the frigates, which it refenibles by this character, and alfo by the ha- bit of perching on trees «)*. Yet it is more ana- logous to the fea-fwallows than to any of thefe birds : like them, it has long wings which crofs on the tail when in a ftate of repofe : its bill too is {haped like theirs, though ftronger, thicker, and (lightly indented on the edges. ' ^^ ' ** ocean, and returned in the evening to their quarters ; in ihortf <* reckoning foutherly, they mull have been about 500 leagues «* from thefe iflands." Feuillee, Obferv, 17Z5, p. 170. ** In 27* 4' latitude fouth, and 103^ 30^ longitude weft, in the *« firft days of March, we faw Tropic Birds." Ctok. — ** We faw ** man-of-war birds, gulls, and Tropic Birds, which we believed to «« come from St. Matthew or Afcenfion, which we had left behind «* us." Id.'-^* On the zzd of May, 1767, we were by obfervation *( in 1 1 lo longitude weft, and 2o*» i %' latitude fouth ; the fame day «* we faw bonettoes, dolphins, and Tropic Birds." Wallis.'"** Be- «* ing in 20» 52' latitude fouth, and ii5«» 30' longitude weft, we ** caught for the firft time two bonettoes, and we faw feveral; we •* faw alfo feveral Tropic Birds." Byron. •* In 18 degrees fouth latitude, on the meridian of Juan Fer- <* nandez, running eaftward, we faw a number of Tropic Birds." Le Maire.~-** In 29* latitude fouth, and about 133* longitude weft,. « we faw the firft Tropic Bird." Cook. * Labait believes that they even fleep on the water. f ** During three months which I pafted at Port Louis in the «* ifle of France, I never obferved any fea-bird except fome Tropic ** Birds, which crofted the roads in their way to the woods." Re* marks made by the Vifcount de ^erhoent, en board bis Majejlfsflnf theyiaory,itti77iai$di7y\. ^ , . „ 2 It TROPIC BIRD. S19 If, i\it Tropic diftant vatet* ** i in the hich it the ha- )re ana- of thefe ich crofs its bill ilronger, gcs. '''•'. 8 ; in (hortf ;oo leagues Cell, in the « We faw believed to left behind obfervation le fame day - ,//,/.—«« Be- ide weft, we feveral; we f Juan Fer- •opic Birds.'* ngitude weft, . Louis in the fome Tropic voods." Rt' Maje/fjf*sjkif It is nearly as large as a commpn pigeon. The fine white of its plumage would alone fuf« fice to diflinguifh it j but its mod flriking cha- radter is a long double fhaft, which appears like a draw fixed into the tail, whence its name in French *. This is formed by the produdlion of the two middle quills of the tail, which is extremely fhort ; they are almofl naked, edged only with very narrow webs, and they extend twenty-two or twenty-four inches. Often they are of unequal length, and fometimes only one is feen ; which may be owing to fome accident, or to moulting : for in that feafon they drop it, and then the inhabitants of Otaheite and the neighbouring iflands gather thefe long feathers in their woods, whither thefe birds come to repofe at night -f* j the iflanders weave them into tufts and chaplets for their warriors f. The Caribs thruft them through the feftum of the nofe, to look handfomer or more ferocious §. We may readily fuppofe, that a bird whofe flight is fo free, fo lofty, fo vaft, cannot be re- • Ptdlle-tn-^Mtue* .... f ** As we fet out before fun-rife, Tahea and his brother, who " accompanied us, took fea-fwallows which were flecping on the ** bttfhes along the road; they told us, that many water fowls came *< to repofe on the mountains after flying the whole day at fea in *< queft of food, and that the Tropic Bird in particular repaired to *< Jiefe retreats. The long feathers of its tail, which it (heds an< \** nually, are commonly met with on the ground, and the natives " are eager to iind them." Forjier, X Idem. % Dutertrc. conciled •'IV "?.v' ■ K;. : i.\ :, '' •!■ \:M: 1 mm "■B\ 41 '. **! TROPIC SIR a ■1^'-^ [■^ toadied to ctptivity*. Its (hott tegs placed behind render it as heavy and aiikward on the ground as it is nimble and adive in the air. Sometimes the Tropic Birds, fpent by the bluf* lering of ftorms, alight on chips' maAs, and iuf** kr themfelves to be taken with the hand-f. Leguat, the navigator, fpeaks of a diverting conteft between them and his Tailors, whofe Caps they fnatched offj. The Tropic Birds have been divided into two or three kinds, which fcem to be orly varieties nearly allied to the common ftoc' .. We pro- ceed to enumerate thefe, without pretending that they are fpeciiically different. * ** I kept a lotif time a young Tropic Bird; I wai obtigedr ■* though it was confiderably grown, to open its bill to make it <* fWalhmr food ; it would never eat without afiftauee. As tmtch ta " theTe birds are nimble on wing, they art heanry and ftopid tk tfis ** cage* As their legs are very fhort, all their motions arc con* ** drained : mine flept almoft the whole day." Remarks maJi at the ijle of France, hy the Vijbount de ^erhmhft. f Hift. Univer. des Voyages, par Montfraifier; Pmrm 1707* /. 17. ,. > . vf X ** Thefe birds annoyed us in a Angular manner; they furprh^e j ** as behind, and fnatched the caps from our heads ; and thefe at' ** tacks were fo frequent and fo troumefome, thut we tme oMiged * to hold fticks conftantly in our hands for deftute. Wt pret'eifted ** them fMnetimes, when we faw before trs their ihwlcfwr the mbttttnl * they were about to make their aim. We twAd neret onietftitul ** what ofe o«r capi cmdd be to them, or vt^at they did #hh tlwib * which they had carried off.** Vcyaga \S AventWef A FrtMcii ic" pun ; Jbujhrthmt 1 708. tm. i. p. t07. t pi ] the GREAT TROPIC BIRD. fIRST SPECIES, PlaetoH jEtiereuu Linn, and Gmel. , Ltfturut. BrlfT. Jvit Tropicorum. Ray and Will. - / Plancus 7'ropicus. Klein. ''ip HIS exceeds the bulk of a large ddvc-houfc pigeon ; its fhafts are near two feet long ; all its plumage is white, with little broken black lines above the backi and a black ftreak, in faihion of a horfe-{hce, iriclofes the eye at the inner corners ; the bill and feet are red. It is found in the ifland of Rodrigue, and in that of Afcenfion, and at Cayenne; and fccms the largeft bf the genus. - ' -. j.iii 1 i. [A] SpedEc charailer of the phaeton JEtSenut i " It is whiles *( its back, its rump, and the IcfTer coverts of its wings, (Ireakcd wiili «• black; its two middle' tail-quills black at the bafe; its bill red." It fomfetimes roves immenfc diftances beyond the tropiesr Linmens mentions the latitude of 47! degrees as the Kmit; and I myfrif faw one nearly in that parallel, between the fiapk of Newfoundland and the Chanhel. Linnsebs add^, that the Tropic Bird feeds on niacka- rcls, dolphins, and fharks (I fuppofe he means the dead tatcafes that ibmctlmes float on tlie furfdce). . .."i ..".:; 7 , lu ;v! .L-^Hhj"-) J'i;> >\;--. Vot. vin. X d <. i. J t i * V:;^ H i-ii:! m n f ■ >< ■ , «.■ Jit . W'ii i!:i'. ; H; ^■J ■r< ::' fm I ,1* ■i * L V^ J i. ^'.r^ -ill' » it "■*! '.!* ! . 1 V^ 1 ' 1 The Lif TLE TROPIC BIRD. « SECOND SPECIES. Phaeton ^theretfs, var. i. Linn, and Gmcl. Leptufus Candidus. BrifT. Meyon Media Alha. Bro\vn» "\ 'T^ H I s IS fcarce equal in fize to a common fmall pigeon. Like the preceding, it has the horfe-flioe about the eye, and is befidcs fpotted with black on the feathers of the wings nearefl the body, and on the great quills : all tlie reft of its plumage is white, and alfo its long fhafts. The edges of the bill, which in the great Tropic Bird were ferrated with refledted incifures, are much le£s fo in this. It yents at intervals a fmall cry, chirks chirks and make* its neft in the holes of craggy rocks : it lays two eggs, according to Father Feuillee, which are bluifhr and rather larger than thofe of a pi- geon*, •'•'i^.*..-- -V, • ,;-' '^ :^ ^ • j - ' ■•■ On comparing feveral individuals of this fecond kind, in fome we remarked reddifh or fulvous tints on the white ground of the plumage. This variation proceeds, we prefume,, from the tender age ; and to the fame caufe we would attribute the fulvous call, defcribed by 8 Briffon, RD. common g, it has i belidcs he wings uills: all b its long h in the refleaed yents at id makes lays two hich are of a pi- ftfil^.SrtAFtEb TROPIC Bi^t). 343 BrJflbn *, efpecially as he reprefents that bird as rather fmaller than his white one. We alfo perceived confiderable diverlity in the bulk of thefe birds. Many travellers have aflured us, that the young ones are not pure white, Jjut potted or ftained with brown or blaekifh : they differ alfo, becaufcf their (hafts and feet, irifte^d of being red, are pale blue. We muft, however, obferve, that though Catelby affirms, in general, that thefe birds have their bill and legs red, this is not invariably true, but of the preceding fp^- cies and of the following ; for in this fpecies, which is the mdft common in the ifle of France, the bill is yellowifh, like horn, and the legs are black. \J - • «* Tawny white ; a bar above the eyes ; the fcapular feathers " near their extremity, and a ftripe above the wings, black j the tail- « quills tawny white, their ihafts blackiih at the origin." kepiurut Ful'vus* ^ ■'.■'., ■*" The RED-SHAFTED TROPIC BIRD. THIRD SPECIES, Phaeton Phcenicurui, Linn, and GmeL tht Red-tailed Tropic Bird. Lath. 'TT^H E two long (hafts of the tail afe of the '*' fame red with the bill; the reft of the plumage is white, except fome black fpots on V 2 the H-' * ^ii 5i: 1. ■■ ' '^1 'i^ii: m WW ■Mr h n rMi-\ ■■■■- ■ w ■ !,» ■ -'111 -1 <;* m ntm .yl'il * •■!>: 324 RED-SHAFTED TROPIC BIRD. the wing near the back, and a black hcrfe-fhoe which environs the eye. The Vifcount de Quer- hoent was fo obliging as to communicate the following note on this bird, which he obferved at the iflc of France. « The Red-fliafted ** Tropin Bird breeds in this ifland, as well as ** the common tropic bird; the latter in the " hollow trees of the principal ifland, the for- ** mer in the cavities of the fmall neighbouring iflets. The Red-fhafted Tropic Bird is fcarce ever feen on land 5 and, except in the feafon of courtfhip, the common tropic bird feldom comes alhore. They live by lifhing at large, and come to repofe on the fmall ifle of Com- " de-Mire, which is two leagues from the ifle of *' France, and is the haunt of many other fea birds. It was in September and Odtober that I found the nefts of the tropic birds : each ** contained only two eggs of a yellowifli white, " marked with rufty fpots. I was afTured, that ** no more than one t^g is found in the neft of ** the great tropic bird : and none of the fpecies ** feem to be numerous*.' None €< tt «C (C <( «( « a *t m «t •r «« ft- * " While I was feeking for them, chance led me to be f^-eflator of a fight between the martins and the Tropic Birds : having been direfted into a wood, where I was told that thcfe birds had fet- tled, I fat myfelf down at fome diftance from the tree marked, where I faw ieveral martins colleft : a fliort while after the Tro- pic Bird arrived to enter its hole; an4 the martins ru(hcd upon it and attacked it on all fides, and tliough it has a very ftrong bill, it was obliged to flee ; it made fcveral attempts, which were not •« more ID. ,rfe-(hoc le Quer- cate the obferved d-{hafted s >vell as ;r in the , the for- rhbouring i is fcarce :he feafon rd feldom g at large, e of Coin- , the ifle of ' other fea aober that irds: each ,vifli white, flured, that the neft of the fpecies RED-SHAFTED TROPIC BIRD. 325 None of thefe th ^e fpecies or varieties, which we have juft defc >ed, appears attached to any particular fpot ; often the two firft or the two lafl: are found together j and the Vifcount de Quer- hoiJnt fays, that he faw all the three coUeded at the illand of Afcenfion. , " more fortunate, though alfifted at length by its mate. The martins, « proud of their viftory, did not quit th6 tree, and were on it when «' I left them." Sei^uel of the Vifcount de ^erho'eni's note. [A] Specific charafter of the Phaeton Pheenicurus: " It is of a « very pale rofe-colour ; its bill, and its two middle tail-quills, are f5red.» ... . , . ■ .' . ; ■ • • " >. ' •,•'■. r . ■ . ■ . -i - ' ■■ ■ 1 ;i m *F-? hi •r •Kj, M Hi tn m ■1 it 1, I! ■", V 'i.. It {? t .'T „ to be f^eaator (Is: having been e birds had fet- the tree marked, le after the Tro- ;s ruihed upon it very ftrong bill, , which were not «« more ^z ''j.".r::.1.jj:l i »;; m [ 326 3 The BOOBIES, Les Fo.us*. Bu^l ■ „ T N every well organized being, infUndt difplays **" itfelf by a chain of confiftent habits, which all tend to its prefervation; and this internal fenfe diredts them to fliun what is hurtful, and to feek what may contribute to the fi^pport, and even the enjoyment, of life. The birds that we are now to furvey, have received from nature only half that faculty : large and ftrong, armed with a firm bill, provided with long wings, and with feet completely and broadly palmated, they are fitted to excrcife their powers both in the air and in the water, they are invited to ad and to live 5 yet they feem ignorant what exer- tions they ftiould make, or what precautions they fhould obferve, to efcape that death which per- petually threatens them. Though'diffufed from one end of the world to the other, from the feas of the north to thofe of the fouth, they have no where learnt to diftinguifli their mofl: dangerous enemy : the fight of man does not intimidate or difccmpofe them. They fuifer themfelves to * Ey the Portuguefe fettlers in India, they are called Paxam Ililast or Uie Ibolifh birds. he T BOOBIES. 3^7 "be taken, not only at fea on the fhips* yards *, but alfo at land, on the iflets and co^fts, where they may be felled by blows with a flick, in great numbers, one after another, and yet the flupid flock will make no effort to efcape-f*. This infenfibility to danger proceeds neither from refolution nor courage : fince they can nei- ther refifl nor defend, flill lefs can they attack, though their ftrength and their armour might render them formidable J. It originates, there- fore, from ffnpidity and imbecility* As * Thcfe birds are called Boobies (fous) becaufe of their great Cupidity, their filly afped, and their habit of continually ihalung the head and fliivering when alighted on fhips* yards, or other parts, where they fuiFer themfelves to be taken by the hand. Feuillie.'^ If the Booby fees a (hip, either in open fea or near land, it will com« to perch on the mails ; and foizietimes, if a perfon flretches out his hand, the bird will alight upon it. In my voyage to the iflands, there was one which pafled fo often over my he^d, that I transfixed it with a half- pike. Dutertre. — Thefe birds are not at all (by, either on land or at fea ; they approach a veffel without feeifting to fear any thing, when they chance to come in the way : the report of a fowling-piece, or any other noife, will not deter them. I have fome* times feen one of thefe folitary boobies come to rove atou^ the (hip at evening, and to alight on the yards, where the failors caught them without their fhewingthe fmalleft inclination toefeape. 0^- fewatiom communicated by M, de la Border King*s phyjician at Cayenne, See alfo Labat, Nouveau Voyage aux ties de l*Amerique: Paris, \J2Z» tern. vi. /. 48;. Legqat, torn, i. /. )96. f It is a very filly bird, and will hardly get out of peoples' way. Dampier.-^ln this ifland of Afcenfion, the Boobies are fo numerous, that our failors killed five or fix with one blow of a ftick. Gcnnes, —Our foldiers killed an aflonifliing ^juantity of them at the fame ^fland of Afcenfion. Vifcount de Siuerho'ent, X The Boobies are certain birds fo called, becaufe they fufFer themfelves to be caught by t|te kand : they pafs the day on the rocks, V A which .;'!.lHi Vtl' -Jh ■^n I '''■>'■ "1' '>:','■'. K, km 328 BOOBIES. •Ir^':;^' ,"0( '""fl; •■!> As the mental powers and the moral qualir ties of animals are derived from their conftitu- tion, we mud attribute the exceffive fluggifhnefs and helplcfs fecurity of the Boobies to fome phy- fical caufe ; and this, moft probably, is the ditfi- culty of putting their long wings in motion *. But man is not their only foe ; their want of courage expofes them to another enemy, which perpetually harraffes them. This is the frigat, or man-of-war bjrd. It rufhes upon the Boo- bies which it defcries, purfues them without in- termiflion, and obliges them, by blows with its wings and its bill, to furrender their prey, which it inftantly feizes and fwallows -f* : for the filly, ■ ■ .■ ■ ■ ' «^' ' • ' wHich they never leave but \vhen they gp a-fifhing ; in the evening they retire to the trees, and, after they are once perched, I am per- fuaded they would not quit, though thefe w?re fet on fire : and they will all fufFer themfelves to be taken without ftirring from the fpot ; however they try to do their bcfl in defence with their bill, but they cahnot hurt a pei fon. llifiory of tht Buccaneers, 1686, * We fliall fee that the frigat itfelf, noUvithftanding its vigorous wing, has the fame difriculty in taking its flight. f I had the plcafure to fee the frigats give chafe to the Boobies : when they retire in bodies at evening from the labours of the day, the frigats watch their return, and, rufhing on, oblige them to fcrcam for affiftance,and to di'gorge fpme fifh, which they carry to their young. FeuilUe. — The Boobies repair at night to repofe on the ifl.ind of Rodriguc, and the frigats, which are large birds, and fo called becaufe of the rapidity of their flight, wait for them every evenini; on the tops of the trees; they rife very high, and dart down upon Uicm like a hawk upon his prey, not to kill them, but to make them difgorge ; the Booby, llruck in this way by the fri- gat, throws up a fifh, which the latter fnatches in the air: often the Booby fcrcarns, and difcovers a relut^ance to part with its' booty; l)ut the f igat fcorns its cries, and, rifing again, comes down with fuch a blow as to dan the poor bird, and compel an immediate fiirrender. Uguat. • ' •• ' cowardly BOOBIES. 3*9 cowardly Boobies difgorge at the firft attack, and return to feek new prey, which they often lofe by a fecond piracy *. The Boobies hover above the furface of the water, fcarce moving their wings, and drop on the fifli the inftant it emerges •f. Their^flight, though rapid and well fupported, is greatly in- ferior to that of the frigat. Accordingly, they do not roam fo far, and their appearance is re- garded by navigators as a pretty certain fign of the nearnefs of feme land J. Yet feveral of thefe ♦ Catefljy defcribes fomewhat differently tlie fltlrmjlhes of tl»e Booby and its enemy, which he calls the pirate. " The latter,'* fays he, " fubfifts entirely on the fpoils of others, and particularly *• of the Booby. As foon as the pirate perceives that it has caught •* a fifli, he flies furioufly againll it, and obliges it to dive under vva- " ter for fafety ; the pirate not being able to follow it, hovers above <* the water till jhe 3ooby is obliged to emerge for refpiration, and ** then attacks it again while fpent and brcathlefs, and compels it ** to furrender its fifli ; it now returns to its labours, and has to fuf- *' fer frefh attacks frpnn its ipdefatigable enemy." fRay. X The Boobies do not go very far to fea, and feldom lofe fight of land. Former.'- A few days after our departure from Java, we faw Boobies about the Ihip for feveral nights together; and asthefc bird* gotorooftonland in the eveninjj,we conjedlurcd that there was fome ifland near us ; perhaps it was the ifland of Selam, whofe name and polition are very differently marked on the charts. CooL — Our latitude was z^^ 28' (on the 21ft May 1770, near New Holland); we had found on the preceding days feveral fea birds, called Boobies, but wc had not that fight to-day. On the night of the 21ft, there paffed near the ftiip a fmall flock flying to the north-weft; and in the morning, from an hour before fun-rife to half an hour after, there were continual fiights that came from the north north- weft, and difappcarcd toward tiic fouth fouth-eaft; we favv none that ' ■ ' ^ ■ . .. ^^^^ ; ill. II ;i I . , ;Kl. : p\ m ! t- !■' I m 1 "'''i.ji'i It ' ^i li 1: ?< ■I [r -*1 '4\ tVf liri \yih-j 1 •■■'? m If J i. I ri I I -• 1 330 BOOBIES. « Am//V/*.- in all the iflands fcattered under the fouthern tropic, Forjier : in the Great Antilles, Feuillee^ Labat,, puiertre, &c. : in the B.-iy of Campeachy, Damfier, ^ ' *.^ away, B O O B J F. S. 33 « S and 1 €4 :ftered 1 I. '' ' Thefc birds utter a loud cry, partaking of that of the raven and of the goofe ; and this is heard particularly when they are purfued by the fri- gat, or when, aflembled together, they are feized by fome fudden panic *|-. In flying they ftretch out the neck, and difplay the tail. They cannot ' begin » *, What is mofl rc^iarlcablc in \hcCe birds, the upper mandible. *« two inches below the mouth, is jointed in fuch manner that it can *' rife two inches above the lower mandible, without the bill \icing " opened." Cc.ejby. f " We had been hunting goals at night (in the ifland of Af- *' ccnfron) ; the reports of the piece which we fired had fiight- " ened their in a, scaufe They :ce of rratcd a na- Ibme- finely I their mnels. bill is, as it )y two which fecond ; head, of its jening 3f that heard rie fri- feized ftretch cannot begin nandible, jat it can ill l)eing idof Af- d fi ight- " cned 2P.2U 'mt\ r-d-ffc i I :"«■'♦! * t » .C'.Vi 'H '' * w THE COMXrON BOOBY !<• I'll*" ; •.'■'i.i • ■ , i "• i^'i ; l '^■,: hi. a COMMON BOOBY. 33i ■ bdgln their motion but from fome lofty flation, and therefore they perch like cormorants. Dam- pier remarks, that in the ifle ot Avcs they breed on trees, though in other places they neftle on the ground, and always u number in the fame haunt; for a community, not of inftincft but of weaknefs, feems to colle<5l them together. They lay only one or two eggs. The young ones con- tinue long covered, for the moft part, by a very foft and white down. — The other particulars will beft appear in the enumeration of their fpecics. ** encd the Boobies In the neighbourhood : they all fcieamed toge- ** ther, and the reft replied at (hort dillances, which made a hldeou* ** din." Note communicated by the Ft/count de ^erhoi'nt. .The COMMON BOOBY. ' i ■ , F I }i S r SPECIES Pekcanus-Sula. Linn, and Gmcl. , Siila. Briff. ' '. * • Plancui Morus. Klein. ■*'. . ^T^His bird, which feems to be mofl common "^ in the Antilles, Is of a middle fize be- tween the duck and the goofc : its length, from the end of the bill to that of the tail, is two feet five inches, and a foot eleven inches to the extremities of the nails: its bill is four inches and '-If ■j.\ i ' Tii| I '1:1 I' a {ill ■ ■ -^ ■ k ll^'l; i::'ll ;vp. "I ,. I,;' '1^:/ . < '-VI,, I'l.; M II '* --i ■'» ''■fll its U 334 COMMON feOOSV. and a half, and its tail is near ten ; the naked fkin which encircles the eye is yellow, and fo is the bafe of the bill, whofe point is brown ; the legs are flraw-coloured*; the belly is white, and all the reft of the plumage is brown cine"- reous. Simple as this garb is, it is infufficient, as Catefby obferves, to charadterize the fpecies, fo many are the individual varieties which it contains. " I obferved," fays he, " one that had a white belly and a brown back; another, whofe breaft and belly were white, and others ** which were entirely brown.'* Some travellers feem to denominate this fpecies the fulvous bird-f. The flefh is black, and has a marfhy flavour ; yet the failors and adventurers of the Antilles often fed on it. Dampier relates, that a fmall French fleet, being caft on the ifle of Aves, partly fubfifted on thefe birds, and made fuch confumption of them, that the number there has iince been much diminifhed. tt €C • Catefby. f The birds which the French in the Antilles call/awves, becaufe of the colour cf their back, are white under tlie belly j they arc of the bulk of a water-hen, but are ufually fo lean that their plumage is the only pnrt of them the leaft valuable : they have the feet of ducks, and the pointed bill of woodcocks j they live on fmall fifli, like the fri- gats, but they are the moll flupid of the birds, either at fea or on land, in the Antilles; fince, whether that they eafily tire on wing, or that they take the (hips for floating rocks, as foon as they peN ceive one, efpecially if towards night, they immediately come to alight upon it, and are fo filly as to fufFer themfelves to be taken by the hand. Hiftoin N at ureUe^J Morale dei Antilles i Rotterdam, 1658, /. 148. They COMMON BOOBY. 33$ They are found in great numbers not only on the ifle of Aves, but in that of Remire, and cfpecially at the Grand-Connitabky a rock ihaped like a fugar-loaf, riling apart in the fea, within fight of Cayenne *. Multitudes alfo occur on the illets which lie along the fhores of New Spain and Caracca-f*. And the fame fpecies feems to be met with on the coaft of Brazil J, and on the Bahama iflands, where, it is af- ferted, they lay every month of the year two or three eggs, or fometimes only one, on the naked rocks §. • "Ranere, Franu EqumoxiaU, p. 1Z2. f What makes thefe birds and many others fo extremely nume- rous on thefe fhores, is the incredible fwarms of fiftx which attradl them: a perfon can fcarce let down into the water a line with twenty or thirty hooks> but he fiiids> on drawing it up, a Eih hangr xng from each. I On thefe ifland« (of St. Anne, on the coaft of Brazil) numbers are found of large birds, called Boobies (foui) becaufe they allow themfelves to be eafily caught : in a fliort time we took two do* zen . . . Their plumage is gray ; they are ikinned like hares. Ltttrea Edifiantes, xv. Recueil^p. 333, § Catefby. ■,' . [A] Specific charafter of the Booby, Pelecams-Sula: " Its tail '* is wedge-Ihaped, its body whitiflv its primary wing-quilb black ** at the tip* its face red." ,1 *' m f>H ■-'■I ',1 '■!'-'' ^..1 ;•;■! •'^ii <-A\ m ■Mi '• ^i-A ■"■;* m ', ..',11 ..m-'M ir ,11' ■',11 ■ i '' :l,\C: '-'I'J !'• it'iS C 336 ] l! ■' .■:■; ^ ^ the WHITE BOOBY; SECOND SPECIES. Pelecaniis-Pifcator. Linn^ and Gmel. Sula Candida, Briff. The Lejffer Gannet, Lath. V'<« TX/e have remarked, that there is much di- verfity of white and brown in the pre- ceding fpccies, yet we cannot clafs this with it ^ the more fo as Duiertre, who faw both alive, diftinguifhed them from one another. They are indeed very different, fince what is white iii the one is brown in the other j viz. the back, the neck, and the head, which is befides rathet fmaller. It appears alfo to be lefs ftupid j it fel- dom perches on trees, and ftill lefs does it fuiFer itfelf to be caught on the {hips' yards ; yet it inhabits the fame places with the pre- ceding, and both are found on the ifland of Afcenfion. " There are," fays the Vifcount de Querhoent, " in this ifland, thoufands of common •* Boobies ; the white are lefs numerous \ both kinds arefeen perched upon heaps of ftones, ge- nerally in pairs. They are found at all hours, and ** will never ftir till hunger obliges them to fifh. Their general refort is on the windward fide of the '* ifland. <( « «( ij; GREAT BOOBY. 337 ** ifland. They may be approached in broad ** day, and caught even by the hand. There are " Boobies alfo which differ from the preceding : ** when at fea, in the latitude of lo" 36' north, " we fiw fome whofe head was entirely « black *." * Captain Cook found White Boobies on Norfolk ifland. [A] Specific charafter of the LefTer Gannet, Pelecanus Pifcator: «* Its tail is wedge-fhaped ; its body white ; all its wing-quills " black ; its face red." The G R E A T B O O B Y. THIRD SPECIES, Pelecanus BaJJanus, var. i. Linn, and Gmel. Sula Major. BrifT. 'Tp H I s bird is the largefl of its genus, being equal to the goofe, and its wings meafur- ing fix feet acrofs : its plumage is deep brown, fprinkled with finall white fpots on the head, with broader ones on the breaft, and with others ftill broader on the back; the belly is dirty white. The colours are more vivid in the male than in the female. This large bird is found on the coafls of Florida, and on the great rivers of that country. VOL. viu, z ♦« It W\- m i'jf ■ '■ |i ''■■ir %'^ W: I: w :'.:;:'V-Vi! n n, ii, .1 :!; 'i.'M u'V: f%A % Id m n 1 h- r « 1 338 GREAT BOOBY. *• It dives," fays Catefby, " and remains a con- " fiderable time under water, where I imagine it " chances on (harks and other voracious fifh, " which often maim or deftroy it ; for I feveral ** times found thefe birds wounded or dead on '* the beach." An individual of this fpecles was taken in the neighbourhood of ;he city of Eu, on the i8th of Odobcr, 1772. No doubt it had been fur- prized far at fea by rough weather, and driven by the violence of the wind upon our coafts. The perfon who found it had only to throw his coat over it : it was kept fbme time ; at firft it would not iloop to take a fifh, but required it to be held as high as its bill. It fat always fquat, and was averfe to motion j but after be- ing acciiftomed to live on land, it walked and became familiar 5 it even importunately followed its mafler, making at intervals a ihrill raucous cry *. • Extraft of a letter from the Abbe Vincent, profeflbr in the college of the city of Eu, inferted in the journal de Phy/i,'■ ; i'' The LITTLE BROWN BOOBY. '}\-<:M FIFTH SPECIES. Pehcanus Filer. Linn, and Gmrl. Fiber Marinas. Feuillee. Larus Pifcator Cinereus, Klein. Sula Fu/ca, BrifT. ^I.^y|:l! 'Tp HIS bird differs from the preceding, being •^ entirely brown j and though it is alfo larger, it equals not the common Booby. W« z 2 therefore *: S''i"' ^r:^&i.m 34» SPOTTED BOOBY. therefore range thefe fpecies feparately, till new obfervations inform us whether they ought to be joined. Both of them inhabit the fame places, and particularly Cayenne and the Caribbee iilands. f A] Specific chara£ler of the Pelecanus Fiber : " Its tail is « wedge-fhaped j its body duikilh; all its wing-quills bJackifh; its « face red." The SPOTTED BOOBY. SIXTH SPECIES. Pelecanus Maculaius. Gmel. 'Tp H E colours and bulk of this bird might re- fer it to the third fpecies, did it not differ in the exceflive ihortnefs of its wings. Indeed, we fhould almoft doubt, whether it belonged to the Boobies, but for the chara(5lers of its bill and feet. It is equal to the great diver, and as in it, the ground of the plumage is blackilh brown, wholly fpotted with white, more delicately on the head, and broader on the back and wings; the ftomach and belly are waved with brownifh, on a white ground. , [A] Specific diarafter of the Pelecanus Maculatus : ** It is *« brown fpotted with white; below white, waved and fpottedwith " brown j its bill, its wing-quills, its tail, and its feet brown." r 341 3 The G A N N E T. Le Fou de Bassan. Btiff\ Pelecanus Bajfanus. Linn, and Gmcl. Sula Bajfaiia, BrifT. jinfer BaJJanus. Sibbald, Ray, Charleton, &c. ''■ 'er Bajjanusy n^cl Scoticiis. Gefner, Aldrov. &c, oula Moieri. Clufius and Will. The Solan Goo/c *. Will, and Alb. ^T^ H E Bafs-iile is a flupendous ' rock in the Firth of Forth, not far from Edinburgh. It is the refort of thefe large and beautiful birds, which have been reckoned peculiar to it -f- : but Clufius and Sibbald aflure us, that it occurs alfo on the Craig of Ailfa % in the Firth of Clyde, and in the Hebrides § and the Feroe iflands ||. This bird is as large as a goofe ; it is near three feet long, and more than five feet acrofs • In Norwegian Sulc, Hav-Sule* t Ray. t Sibbald. § Some perfons aflure us, that thcfe Boobies are at times driven by adverfe winds on the coafls of Brittany, and thai, one was leen «ven in the vicinity of Paris. II Hedlor Boece, in his defcription of Scotland, fays, that thefe birds alfo neftle on the Hebrides ; but what he adds, that for this purpofe they bring as much wood as to fupply the inhabitants, feems fabulous ; efpecially^ as the Gannets of the Bafs lay, like the other boobies of America, on the naked rock, z 3 the ■'1 ■■ .-Tl fill :"l| 1 r.,: ^i . . 1 ' t '■■1.1 It. mi 'M r ill f ■? 34a G A N N E T. the wings : it is entirely white, except the pri- maries of thQ wing, which are brown or black- ifh, and the back of the head, which is tinged with yellow * : the cere is of a fine blue, and alfo the bill, which extends fix inches, and opens . fo wide as to admit a large mackerel ; nor does this enormous morfel always fatisfy its voracity. M. Baillon fent us a Gannet that was taken in open fea, and which had choaked itfelf in fwal- lowing a very large fifh -f*. Near the Bafs, and at the Hebrides, they fubfift generally on her- rings. Their flefh contradls a fifliy tafte : but the young ones are always very fat J ; and perfons defcend among the crags to rob the nefls §. The old ones might eafily be felled with flicks or ftones ||, but they are unfit for eat- • I am inclined to believe that this is a mark of age ; this yel- low fpot is of the fame nature with that on the lower part of the neck of the fpoon-bills : I have feen fome wherein it was golden; the fame t' ing happens to white hens, which turn yellow as they grow old. Note communicated by M. Bailkn.^^Kzy is of the fame opinion ; and Willughby relates, that the young ones are at fir ft marked with brown or blackilh on the back. f Sent from Montreuil-fur-mer, by M. Baillon, December, 1777. The ftory related by Gefner is fabulous, that, on feeing an- other iifli, it difgorgcs the one which it had juft fwallowed. I Gefner fays, that the Scotch make an excellent kind of oint- ment of the fat of thefe birds. § "The art of cookery," fays Sir Robert Sibbald," cannot form « a difli of fuch delicate flavour, and combining the taftes of fifh « and flefh, as a roafted Solan goofe ; and the young grown ones ** are defervedly efteemed delicacies with us, and fell at a high « price." II Note communUattd hy James Bruce, E/qi 30//^ e/ May, 1774. ing. '"ni ">•' ^\i G A N N E T. 343 ing*. They are as filly as the other boo- bies "f*. They breed in all the clefts of the Bafs, and lay but one egg J. The people fay that they hatch it ftanding on one foot§, a notion fuggefted probably by the breadth of its fole {|. It is widely palmatcd, and the middle and outer toes are each near four inches long, and all the four are connected by an entire piece of membrane : the fkin does not adhere to the body 3 it is con- nedcd to it only by fmall bundles of fibres placed at equal diftances, fuch as one or two inches, and capable of being extended as much ; fo that the fkin may be drawn out like a mem- brane, and inflated like a bladder. The bird, no doubt, thus fwells itfelf to diminiih its fpe- cific gravity, and facilitate its flight ; yet no du(fls can be traced from the thorax to the cu- ticle : but perhaps the air penetrates it through the cellular texture, as in many other birds. This obfervation, which will certainly apply to I'll' • ** It is a bird excefllvely foetid; in preparing the fpecimen «' for my cabinet, my hands retained the fmell more than a fort- «* night ; and though I dipt the ikin in alkaline lye, and feveral " times fumigated it with fulphur in the courfe of two years, its " odour ftill adheres to it." Note commtoiicateei by M. Baillon, f In domihus nntrita Jiupidijftma ai'is. Sibbald. X Sibbald. § Mr. Bruce. II Hence, it is alledged, they received the name of Sole-ait-^fe/e ; but Martin informs us, that this word is of Irifh or Erfe derivation, and fignifies quick-fighted; thcfe birds being noted foi- the bright luftre of their eyes. — T. z 4 all 1 Ipillf'' T 1 ' 344 G A N N E T. S'-l 3 I 1 ■ ' I' « all the fpecies of boobies, was made by M. Daii- benton the younger, on a Gannet, Tent frerti from the coafl of Picardy. ; v >= «. The Gannets arrive in fpring on the iflands of the north, and retire in autumn *, and ad- vance farther fouth. Perhaps, if their migra- tions were well known, it would be found, that they join the other fpecies of boobies on the coafts of Florida ; the general rendezvous of all the birds which defcend from the boreal regions, and have vigour of wing fufficient to traverfe the Atlantic ocean, . • Sibbald. [A] Specific charafter of the Gannet, Pelecanus BaJJatius: " Its *« tail is wedge-lhaped ; its body wliite ; its bill, its primary wing- *' quills black ; its face blue." It has a fmall dilatable pouch un- der its chin, able to contain five or lix herrings, which, in the breeding feafon, it carries to its family. Its legs and toes are black, with a ftripe of fine velvet green on the fore part : ths tail contains twelve (harp taper quills. The egg is white, and rather fmaller than that of a common goofe : if it be removed, tho bird will lay another ; and if this be equally unfortunate, flie wi.l even lay a third. The neft is large, and compofed of fubftancci that float on the water, as fea-weeds, fog, fliavings, &c. It is very proba- ble, that the Gannets attend tht; progrefs of the herrings ; the fifl^- ermen reckon them a fure fign of the approach of the fhoal. In December, thefe birds are frequently feen near l-ifbon, diving for fardines, a kind of pilchards. They defcend from a vaft height, and plunge many fathoms under water. In Scotland they are iifually called Solan-gcefs ; in Cornwall and Ireland Gannets ; and in Wales Gan. The inhabitants of St. KiUla, we are aflured by Mar- tin, take often 22,600 of the young birds annually, befides a pro- digious number of eggs. Thefe fpoils are the chief fubfiftance of thefe hardy iflandc s, and they ftore up their provifions in pyra- midal llotte buildings, covering them over with peat-afhes. The Craig of Ailfa refembles mucix \i\ appearance the Bafs-ifle : of the G A N N E T. 34S latter, we have an elcp;ant defcription, by the immortal difcoverer crtihc circulation of tlie blood, D:. Harvey. 1 fhall take the liberty of fubjoining a tranflation of it : " There « b a ftnall ifland which the Scotch call the Ba/s, not above a mile « in circuit, lu the months ot June and July, the furface of this *« ifland is lb ftrewed with ncfts, and eggs, and young birds, that a «' perion can hardly fet his foot witliout treading on them. And fo ** vail is the multitude of thole whicli Hy over head, that like clouds, «« they darken the fun and the fky ; and fuch is their clangorous *« noife, that you can fcarcc hear the voice of your companions. *« If from the fummit of the lofty precipice, you look towards the ** fea which fprcads below, you will perceive, wherever you turn «* your eyes, biris innumerable of various kinds, fwimming and ** hunting for tneir prey. If failing round, you furvey the im- ♦• pending clitF, you will fee in every crag and fiflTure of the indent- « ed rock, birds of all ibrts and fizes, which would out-number the «' liars that appear in a clear night. If from a diftance you be- ** hold the flocks roving about the ifland, you would imagine them *f to be a vait fwarm of bees."— De Gtfierat. Animal. Exer, 2* n ', r' r\ 'I t M.:''. fa' ! '' I I ■ n In l.i!., m ft 1; .'■ i',p^% [ 346 ] The F R I G A T. La Fregate. Bujf\ Fileranut Aquilus. Linn, and Gmel. Fregata. Briff. Fregata Avis. Ray, Will, kc. 1'he Man-of-War Bird, Brown, Damp, and Sloanc. The Frigat Bird. Alb. and Pcnn. The Frigat Pelican. Lath. 'T^ H E fteadioefs and rapidity with which this bird moves through the air, have procured it the name of Frigat. It furpafles all the winged failors in the boldnefs, the vigour, and the extent of its flight 5 poifed on wings of prodigious length, which fupport it without perceptible motion, it fwims gently through the tranquil air, waiting to dart on its prey with the rapidity of a flafh : but if the atmofphere 38 embroiled with tempefts, the Frigat, nimble as the wind, afcends above the clouds, and ilretches beyond the region of florms *. It journies in all directions, and either mounts up- wards or glides horizontally -, and it often roams to a diflance of feveral hundred leagues -f-: and • Ray. ■f Ide./i.-'" There is no bird in the world that flics higher, •* longer, or more eafily,and which roves farther fiojnland. ... It Is •• found 2^^222 aiie. vhich this ; procured ;s all the igour, and wings of t without I rough the prey with Ltmofphere ;at, nimble :louds, and rms *. It nounts up- id it often i leagues -f: and hat flics higher, )jnl.ind. ... It is «« found THE FKIGAT I'ELICAN^ ..t \H'-- (■^ m4f III -if: ;;:il -1 ' ';?! i-i'!*: .t'jl > «M3 ,'5^! J ttl'i; t ' l"J, i«r«i Mn'o Nt;*.:r. i('->j*' '«ii ■h; F R I G A T, 347 and thefe immenfe excurfions are performed by a fingle flight i and as the day is infufficient, it purfues its route during the darknefs of the night, and never halts on the fea, but when in^ vited by the abundance of prey * . The flying-filhes, whofe columns are purfued by the bonettoes, dolphins, &c. when driven to extremity, fpring out of the water, but efcape not the Frigats : it is in queft of thefe fiflies that they roam fo far from the land j they dif- cern at a vaft diftance -f* the progrefs of their phalanxes, which fometimes are fo compacted as to make a rippling, and to whiten the face of the ocean. Then the Frigats fhoot with down- ward flight, and bending along the furface of " found in the midft of the ocean, three or four hundred leagues *' from land ; which (hows its prodigious ftrength and its furprizing " lightnefs : for it cannot reft on the water like the water-fowl, " fince its feet are not calculated for fwimniing, and its wings are *' fo large, that they require room to begin their motion ; if there- " fore it fell on the water, its efforts would be fruitlefs, and it could ** never rife again. We may hence conclude, that as it is found «* three or four hundred leagues from land, it muft defcribe a track "of feven or eight hundred leagues before it can halt." Labat, Nouveaux Voyages aux ties de V Amerique ; Partis ly 22, torn, vi, • " In the evening we faw feveral birds called Frigats; at mid* " night I heard others about the veflel ; and at five o'clock in the " morning we perceived the ifland of Afcenfion." JValUs. f *' The dolphins and bonettoes purfued the ihoals of flying fi(h, *' as we have obferved in the Atlantic Ocean; while feveral large " black birds with long wings and a forked tail, ufually called Fri- " gats, rofe very high in the air, and dalhing down with furpria- " ing fwiftneis on the fifh which they perceived fwin.ining, ucvcr •♦ failed to ftrike their prey." Cook. the m 4 J4 ' ■'' f If- I m .X •' i'' it ■ !.* .'n If; y- «• ' li. -iiH '"< •■ ri'V mi'' 3 «!■ u- m if* 1» ,-:,if!;^h -r 1.1- .' ■ .1 s 348 F R I G A T'. rM I- .it* ■ ■ !«' 'im^' ii m^ *-i::i I <' l'\ the water*, they fnatch the filh, feizing it with the bill or talons, and often with both at once j according as it feuds on the furface, or iprings into the air. It is between the tropics only, or a little be- yond them -f, that we find the Frigat in the feas of both continents J. He maintains a fort of empire over the birds of the torrid zone : he obliges many, fuch as the boobies, to provide for him ; and ftriking them with his wing, or biting them with his hooked bill, he conftrains them to difgorge their prey, which he inflantly catches §. The hoililities which he commits have • « Though the Frigat rifes to a vaft height in the air, and ** often beyond the reach of our fight, it nctwith (landing defcries «« clearly where t!ie dolphins are ia purfuit of the flying fifh : it ♦* then (hoots down like lightning, not quite to the water, but when ♦* it has come within t:n or twelve fathoms, it makes a great bend, •* and finks gradually till it raze the fea, and catches the little filh «* either while liying or while in the wr.ior, with its bill or its talons, ** and often with both together." DuUrtre. f " In 30° 30' fcuth latitude, we began to fee Frigats." CooL—m " In 27° 4.' fouth latitude, and 103° 56' weft longitude, about the *• beginning of March, we met with great numbers of birds, fuch as ** Frigats, tropic birds, &;c." Idem. I At Ceylon; in the run between Madagifcar and the Maldives; at the iflaiid of Afccnfion ; at Eafter ifland ; at the Marquefas ; at Otaiieite, and in all the lovv iflands of the fouthern Archipelago; on the coaft of Brazil, where it is called canjtira; at Caracca; at the iflc of Ave?, and in all the Antilles, § " Thcfe birds, called Frigats, hunt the boobies ; they make " them rife above the rocks where they are perched, and purfuc ** them, ftriking with the ends of their wings ; the boobies, the *' better to cfcnpc their enemies, difgorge what fifli they I'ave f< taken ; and the Frigats, which want nothing elfe, catch the fpoils «' as F R I G A T. 349 <{ « ti liavc led failors to beftow on him the appella- tion of Man-of-TVar bird'^K He has the au- dacity even to let man at defiance : " On land- " ing at the iQand of Afcenfion," fays the Vif- count de Querhoent, " we were furrounded by *' a cloud of Frigats. With a blow of my cane ** I knocked down one, which attempted to " fnatch a fiih out of my hand : at the fame time many of them flew a few feet above the " kettle which was boiling alliore, and endea- voured to carry off the flefli, though a part of the fhip's company attended it." This temerity of the Frigat proceeds as much from the force of its arms, and the boldnefs of its flight, as from its voracity. It is fitted by nature for war : its talons are (harp, its bill ter- minates in a very pointed hook, its legs are fliort and ftrong, its flight is rapid, its light acute : all thefe qualities feem to mark an analogy to the eagle, and to conllitute it the tyrant of the air at fea "f*. But its ftrudure is calculated for the watery element, and, though itfeldom or never fwims, its four toes are connedied by a fingle fcalloped membrane. In this refped:, it ap- " as they are dropt, and before they reach the water." liijlory of the Buccaneers, — " According to Oviedo, the Frigats wage the fame *' war againft the pelicans, when thefe repair to tlie Bay of Panama, " to fifh for fardines." Ray, * Dampicr. \ Hence, in tlie Linnsan fyftem, the Frigat is denominated Pf- hcanuf Jpd/us, or Eagle Pelican. proaches 'Wu. Wk 1 W #' ■ M ^ ' J i4 ir \1 ■ [^ ■ ■ ,1 . ,.1) ;W , 'h ■' i ( 1 ■ i^"'> 1 ' f ,v^ ■ ' ^11^: i ' 't 1 ■••I';: 'if "■"> .| '■ :|f.: 1; '."■ y !:'■ ■ ''»ri . <*■■ . i r . 1 A 'It /' . ■' ■ ;i It, I'l i. 1 «•■ • ■ t,' -'K UF ^ ■ 1 ' , (• i -M ■^ '' I.'-- i (>■ .i. ■■ • * .". ' ■> H . liy l;'l 4% 1' i'- ^^t •Ip ■ ■■'. ' ' f ft-' ■-P.I !:.! ;: ^f ■ •:i': '•i! .- ill ■v- .'li i ■■ i'l,; ?;i'!': ' I.I 1 ( iih* .'■'; it '^''■i'- 'li'' ^ij'i;:'' T'l ■ w 1- j! " .1 . ■'i': , ill-' ,«', ':1U:" ■I 1 ■ 1 * > w i 350 F R 1 G A T. m •«i K'l I Mr proachcs the cormorants, the boobies, and the pelicans, which may be regarded as perfect pal- mipeds. The bill of the Frigat is peculiarly calculated for rapine, fince it terminates in a fharp hooked tip, and yet differs effentially from that of the birds of prey, being very long, the upper mandible fomewhat concave, and the hook, placed quite at the point, feems to form a detached piece, as in the bill of the boobies, which it refembles by its futures and by the want of external noftrils. The Frigat is not larger than a hen, but its wings extend eight, ten, and even fourteen feet. This prodigious expanfion enables it to perform its diftant excurlions, and tranfports it into the midft of the oc^an, where it is often the only obje<5t between the fky and the v/ater that gra- tifies the longing eyes of the mariner * ; but this exceffive length of wings has alfo its in- convenience J and, like the booby, the Frigat can hardly rife after it has alighted, fo that when furprized in that fituatioii it may be felled to the ground -f*. A cliff or the fummit of a tree. M *f «( «( « « • " We were accompaiued with no bird in our route ; a white booby or a Frigat appeared now and then at a great diftance (between 15* and zo** fouth latitude)." CodJi. t ** I went one of thcfe laft days to hunt Frigats an their iflct at the extremity of Guadaloupe ; we were three or four perfons, and in lefs than two hours we took three or four hundred ; we fur- prized the grown ones on the branches, or in their neft, and as they had great diinculty in taking wiiig, we had time to flun them with « the ■■I (1 F R I G A 3Si tree is required, and even then it cofts great effort to mount on wing *. We m«iy fuppofc that all the palmated birds which perch have no objed: in view but to commence more eafily their flight j for that habit is not fuited to the flru(5ture of their feet, and it is only on elevated points that they can difj^luy their enormous wings and exert their pinions. Hence the Frigats retire to fettle on the high cliffs or woody illets, to breed undifturbed -f*, Dampier remarks, that they build their nefls on trees, in fequeftered fpots near the fea; they lay one or two eggs, which are white, with a carnation tinge, and having fmall dots of crim- fon. The young ones are at firft covered with a light gray down ; their feet are of the fame colour, and their bill is almoft white J : but this colour afterwards changes, and the bill grows «* the blows of flicks." Duferi re.—*' They leave tlu-ireggs vvitli diffi- " culty, and fufFer themfelves to be knocked down with flicks : I « have often been witnefs and aftor of this butchery." M. de la Borde, • Dutertre. f ** The fea rocks, and the little defert ifles, are the retreats -^f « thefe birds; and in fuch f.^queftercd fpots they neftle." Hiji, Nat. ^Mor. dcs Antilles. — " Tliefe birds had very long poffefled a little *« ifle in the extremity of Guadeloupe, to which all the Frigats of the *♦ neighbourhood came to repofe at night, and neftle in the feafon. ** It was called the ijlet of Frigats, and ftill bears that name, though " they have changed their retreat; for in the years 1643 and 1644, ** many perfons hunted them fo clofely, that they were obliged to ** forfake the iflet." Dutertre. X Obfervation made by the Vifcount de Qucrhoent at the iflahd of Afcenfion. red s ,' ■'' i.'4 Ilf':' ■\' y A\ I it^M t '.''•i, *:-^ f ■ i, -S!^' ,IF'' i"'?:^. 352 F R I G A T. red or black, and bluifli in the middle -, the fame alteration takes place in the toes. The head is pretty large, and flat a.bove ', tlie eyes are large, black and brilliant, and encircled by a bluifli fkin *. Under the throat of the adult male, there is a large fleihy membrane of bright red, more or lefs inflated or pendulous. No perfon has diflindlly defcribed thefe parts; but if they belonged exclufively to the male, they might bear fome analogy to the caruncle of the turkey- cock, which fwells and reddens, when the bird is ftimulated by love or rage. The Frigats are diftinguiflied afar at fea, not only by the exceflive length of their wings, but by the very forked ihape of their tail -f*. The whole plumage is commonly black with a Lluifh glofs, at leafl that of the male J. Thofe which are brown ||, as the liltk Frigat figured by Ed- wards, feem to be females. Among the num- ber of Frigats feen by the Vifcount de Quer- hoent at the ifland of Afcenfion, and which were all of the fame fize, fome appeared entirely black, others of a deep black on the upper fur- • Feuillee. •f- The Portuguefe call the Frigat Rabo Forcadoy on account of x\a very forked tail. X Ray. II « The feathers of the back and of the wings are black, thick, ** and ftrong ; thofe which cover the ilomach and thighs are more *' delicate, and not fo black. There are fome which have all the feathers ** brown on the back and on the wings, and gray under the belly ; it ** is faid that the latter are females, or perhaps young ones.'* Labat, face ^i F R I G A T. 353 face of the body, with the head and belly, white. The feathers on their neck are fo long, that the inhabitants of the South-Sea Iflands work them into bonnets *. They fet great value on the fat, or rather oil, extraded from thefe birds, on account of its fuppofed virtue in curing rheu- matifms and torpors -(-. This bird has, like the booby, the fpacc round the eye naked; and alfo the nail of th? mid-toe indented within. Thus the Frigats, though born the perfeoutors of the boobicf^, are related to them by confanguinity : fad ex- ample in nature, of animals, which, like our- felves, find'often the moft inveterate foes among their kindred 1 ',il.;i :. ^:l m account of iu * Moft of the men at Eafter Ifland wore on their head a fillet of grafs, decorated with the long black feathers found on the neck of Frigats ; others had enormous bonnets of the feathers of the brown gull. Cook. f The oil or fiit of thefe birds is a fovercign remedy in fciatic complaints, and for all others that originate from cold ; it is efteen* J a precious medicine in the Weft Indies. Dutertre. — The Bucca- neers extradl this oil, which they call the oil of Frigats, by boiling thefe birds in great cauldrons ; it fells very dear in our iflands. M. de la Borde,-— The fat ftiould be warmed, and rubbed well upon the part affedled, in order to open the pores, and fpirlt of wine fliould be mixed with it when the application is made : many people have received a complete cure, or at Icaft great relief, fiom the remedy which I here mention on the credit of another, not having rnylelf liad an opportunity of putting it in praftice. Labat» [A] Specific character of the Itigat, Pckcanus Aquilus : " tail is forked, its body black, its bill red, its orbits black." lis m m VOL. VIII. 2 A .Jtici> C 354 ] M'^ mm mm I mm mm illll 1 The GULLS and the MEWS. Les Goelands ef les Mou«ttes. Buff', * 'T^HESE two names, fometimes conjoined, "^ fometimes feparated, have hitherto ferved ra- ther to confound than to difcriminate the fpecies comprehended in one of the moft numerous families of the aquatic birds. Many naturalifts have termed thole Gul/s, wrhich others <:all Mews, and fome have confidered thefe two appellations as fynonymous. But of all expreflions in lan- guage, fome traces muft remain of their origin, or fome marks of their differences : and I con- ceive that Gu/I and Mew correfpond to the La- tin words /arus and gavi'a. I am perfuaded alfo, that the Gulls properly include the larger, and the Mews the fmaller fpecies. Nay, we may difcover veftiges of the fame divifion among the Greeks ; for the word x67r(pof, which occurs in Ariftotle, Aratus, and other authors, feems to denote a particular kind of Gulls. Suidas and the fcholiaft of Ariftophanes render He7r(pos by * In Greek Aet^of and Kiv^of : in Euftathius Kol ; and Lycophron gives the old ones the name Kaw))^, which feems to imitate their cry : in Larin Larus axidGavia: in German Mew: in Greenlandic ^if/,:> ■i -I) I ] fi ' •I '* !' ' "i ^' ■ ■■'! f i " 360 GULLS AND MEWS. attached to the fliores of the northern feas *. It is reported that the Gulls of the Feroe illands are fo flrong and voracious, that they often tear the lambs in pieces, and tranfport the fragments to their ncfts -f*. In the icy ocean, they often gather in multitudes about the carcafes of whales f ; and on thefe maffes of corruption they fear not infedion. With fuch repafts they ealily fatiate their rapacity, and procure ample provifion for the innate gluttony of their young. Thefe birds flrew their eggs and nefts by thoufands, even on the frozen lands of the two polar zones |1 ; nor do wooden hoop decked with the white feathers of Gulls, which waved in the air. — Clouds of Gulls produce in a great meafure the dung which covers the ifland of Iquique, and which is carried, under the name of guana, into the valley of Arica. Le Geaiil.—The Gull of Louifiana is like that of France. Dupratx.. — A number of Gulls and other birds came (at the Malguine illands) to hover on the water, and darted upon the fifli wiih extreme fwiftnefs; they led us to difcover the proper fcaibn for catching fardines; if held a mo- ment fufpended, they threw up that f.di entire as it was juft Aval- lowed : thefe birds lay round the pools, on green plants like the wa- ter-lily, a great number of excellent wholefome eggs. Bougain- I'ille. * They abound on thofe of Greenland to fuch a degree, that the wretched inhabitants of that frozen region have a peculiar word to fignify the hunting of this unpalatable game ; thf>alliarpok. f Forllcr. \ Hifl. Gen. dcs Voyages, torn. xix. 48. II On the 5 th of June ve had already feen lumps of ice, which fur- prized us fo much, that we took them at firll for fwanc ... On the 1 ith, beyond the latitude of 75", we landed on the illand of Bacrcn, vhcre we found numbers of Gulls eggs. Barentz. — We advanced :;s far as the ifland which Oliver Noorts had named King*s If.and, (near the ilraits of Le Maire)j fome failcrrs who went alhore, found the GULLS AND MEWS. 361 do they quit thofe regions in the gloom of win- ter, but feem attached to their native climates, and fcarcely affected by the change of tempera- ture *. Ariftotle, who lived under a fky infi- nitely milder indeed, remarked that the Gulls and Mews never difappear, but remain the whole year in the places of their nativity. The fame obfervation holds with refped to France ; for many fpecies of this bird are fecn on our coafts, both in fummcr and m winter: on the weftern fhores they are called mauvesy or miauleSf and on the fouthern gabians. Every where they are noted for their voracity and their difagreeable importunate cries. Some- times they keep on the low fliores, fometimcs they retire into the cavities of the rocks, ex- peding the waves to caft out their prey ; often they attend the fifhers, to pick up the refufe and garbage : and this habit is doubtlefs the only ground of the affedion towards man, which the ancients afcribed to thefe birds -f*. As their flefli is unfit for eating J, and their plumage of no the ground almoft entirely covered with eggs of a particular kind cf Gull; one might reach forty-five nefts with his hand, without changing place, and each contained three or four eggs, rather larger than thofe of lapwings. Lc Maire and SchouteK. * The birds which pafs in greatelt numbers towards Mudfon's Bay in fpring, to breed in the north, and which return to the fouth- ern countries in autumn, are the ftorks, the gccfe, the ducks, the teals, the plovers . . . but the Gulls fpend the winter in the country, amidft ice and fnow. [Jijl. Gen. des Voyagcst torn. xv. 26;. f Oppian. \ We could not have taftcd it without vomiting;, if we \w\ not previoufly cxpofed tlicm in air, hanging by the claws, with t. ir heads ';J. !'■:.:! !::■ il-i-i! 1. .'I , "I. , I' 1, J. A c^. .m ■rd 3 > ,1 1 !■> If I-,. ■.(, 362 GULLS AND MEWS. no value, they arc negledlcd by the fowler, and fufFered to approach without being fired upon*. Curious to obferve by ourfelves the habits of thefe birds, we fought to procure fome alive; and M. Baillon, who is ever ready to oblige us, fent a large Gull with a black mantle of the firft fpecies, and a gray-mantled Gull of the fecond ipecies. We have kept them fifteen months in a garden, where we could obferve them at all times. They Ihowed at firft evident figns of their malevolent temper, purfuing each other continually, the large one never permitting the fmall one to eat befide him. They lived on foaked bread, the guts of game and of poultry, and other offals from the kitchen, none of which they ever refufed. They alfo gathered worms and fnails in the garden, and could eafily fepa- rate the fliells. They often went to bathe in a heads downwards for feveral days, that oil or whales fat might drop from their body, and that they might lofe their rank tafte. Re- cueildes Voyages duNordy torn. ii. 89. • The favages of the Antilles, however, eat thefe unfavoury birds.—'* There are," fays Father Dutertre, '* numbers of fmall ** iflands fo full of them, that all the favages in pafTtng load their *' ctnoes with them ; it is droll to fee how thefe people prepare *« them ; they throw them entire, without gutting or plucking ** them, into the fire, and the burnt feathers form a cruft within «* which the bird is cooked. When they purpofe to eat, they re- «* move this cruft, then half open the bird. I know not how they ** prefenrc the carcafe from corruption, for I have feen fome that ** had been roafted eight days before, which is the more furpriz- ** ing, as in twelve hours moll kinds of flefli in thofe countries run «* into putrefaftion." fmall . r GULLS AND MEWS. 363 fmall bafon, and on coming out of the water they (hook themfelves, clapped their wings, and then preened their plumage, like the geefc and ducks. They roved at night, and were often feen walking out at ten or eleven o'clock. They do not, like moft other birds, conceal their head under their wing when they deep ; they only turn it behind, refting the bill between the upper fide of the wing and the back. When a perfon tried to catch thefe birds, they bit and pecked with rancour: to mafter them without fufFering injury, it was neceflary to throw an handkerchief over their head. If one purfued them, they quickened their pace by fprea tin =• their wings. Ufually they walked flowly .. /i ungracefully. Their floth was be- trayed even in their rage ; for when the largeft purfued the other, he walked leifurely, without feeming to care whether he fhould overtake it ; nor did the other fhow any anxiety to efcape, and when it reckoned itfelf to be at a fufficient diftance, it flopped j and it repeated this exer- tion as often as it was prefled, fo as to keep al- ways beyond its enemy's reach, as if remotenefs was fufficient to deftroy the antipathy. — Muft not thus the weak ever retire for fafety before the ftrong? But unfortunately tyranny, in the hands of man, is an engine which extends as far as his thought ! Thefe birds appeared the whole winter to forget • '.I nt t. M H(.r ■'I "ii: .^■: i.?i.i;i 3^4 GULLS AND MEWS. forget the ufe of their wings. They difcovered no inclination to fly away : they were indeed well fed, and their gluttonous appetite could not torment them. But in the fpring they felt new appetites, and fliowed other defires; they en- deavoured to rife into the air, and would have efcaped, had not feveral inches been dipt from their wings: they could therefore only fpring by jerks, or w^hirl on their feet with their wings expanded. The paflion of love, which wakens with the feafon, feemed to fupprefs the inflinct of antipathy, and deftroy their mutual enmity : for they feemed to fondle each other, and though they did not confort, being of different fpecies, they a^c, flept, and relied together. But their plaintive cries and refllefs motions, fuffi- ciently declared, that the fweeteft fentiment of nature was provoked, not fatisfiedi S ] :M The BLACK-MANTLED GULL*. ^<^ FIRST SPECIES. Larus Marinus. Linn, and Gmel. Larus Niger. Brill'. Larus Maxtmus Va^-'tus. '^ly. Will, and Klein. The Great Black i U .. '^ull. Alb. and Penn The Black-backed Gull, b.n.ingfleet and Latham. 'Tp H I s is the largeft of all the Gulls ; it is two feet, and fometimes two feet and an half, in length : a great mantle of black or flaty blackifh covers its broad back j all the reft of its plumage is white : its bill is firm and ftrong, about three inches and a half long, yellowifli, with a red fpot on the projedling angle of the lower mandible : the eye- lid is orange -yellow ; its feet, with their membrane, are flefh-coloured, whitifh and mealy. The cry of this great Gull, which we kept a whole year, is a hoarfe found, qua^ qua, qua, ut- tered in a raucous tone, and repeated very faft : but this is feldom heard, and when the bird is taken it vents a doleful and very fhrill fcream. . * In Swedilh Homaoka: in Danifli Swart-hag, Bfaa-maage: ir Norwegian Ha'v-maafe: in Lapponic Gairo : in Icelandic Sw.c . hkur : in Greenlandic Naviarlur/oak . [A] Specific charadler of the Iar«j M«r/«»J .• " It h ..;;■,?, " its back black." Befides the northern parts of Eu!o;>j, it 'w, fpread over the whole of North America, and in the C uolu' v- l\ P) on ^cpount of its fober ^arb, called the old ■v'ifc. J M' ■ -',;'(, ■I'*. , ■ ll'jiHI f 366 ] 1.1 :■. X t^'i^'N !■ I The GRAY-MANTLED GULL. SECOND SPECIES. Larus Glattcus. Gmel. Ztfrta Cinereus. BriiT. Ti&f Glaucous Gull. Penn. and Lath. ASH-GRAY, fpread on the back and fliould- ers, is the livery common to many fpe- cics of mews, and which diftinguiflies this Gull : it is rather fmaller than the preceding, and ex- cept its gray mantle, and the black furrows on the great quills of the wing, its plumage is en- tirely white. The eye is brilliant, and the iris yellow as in the hawk : the feet are a livid flefh-colour : the bill, which in young ones is almoft blackifh, is pale yellow in adults : there is a red fpot at the fwell of the lower mandible, a charadler common to many fpecies of gulls and mews. This bird flies from the preceding, and dares not difpute with it about its prey. But it revenges itfelf on the mews, which are its inferiors in ftrength: it pillages them, purfues them, and wages continual war with them. It /rcquents much, in the months of November and December, the :oafts of Normandy and Picardy -, where it is called the large mtaulard and lir N!!224: TlfB GTi^lR Otrs GUXL. \ 1 ^. Si ^ \x v| ■| 1 i -k" ' '1- ■ tl !:-'1f' "' >' il ' '-- , ^'' •[ 't-::.:/ 1,' s- 1 . ;•■ ■ 1- • i 't ' ' ;, :*^i: ifi' . ; ■A ij • ■ ! \v\ ■:! "' ■ ;cM' ■I !s' f if '1 1 '•ill!' • •'' 1 .1.1,! . . .( 1 . i; ■ .-.;" i* i , '■( 'I ir -?• \ '; f: 'i •'41 ■;!• i :.( i;.!!!.!: , :,•..', 1 !|-. ■ m ii- •'■li 1 .. ■"H ''if 'tl I GRAY-MANTLED GULL. 367 and blue-mantle, as the appellation black-mantle is beftowed on the firft fpecies. This bird had feveral diftin(5t cries which it uttered in the garden, where it lived with the preceding ; and the firil and moft frequent «f thefe feemed to be the two fyllables gm-ou, which began like a whiftle, fhort and {harp, and clofed with a drawling tone, lower and fofter. It was re- peated only at intervals, and to produce it the bird was obliged to make an effort, and to ex- tend its neck and incline its head. The fecond cry, which was never vented but when purfued, or held clofe, and which was therefore an ex- preffion of fear or anger, may be imitated by the fyllable tia, tia, whiftled and repeated very faft. — We may obferve, by the way, that of all ani- mals the cries of anger or fear are {harper and ihorter than the ufual accents.— About fpring this bird afTumes a very fhrill, piercing voice, which might be denoted by the word qiiieute or fieute, fometimes (hort and rapidly pronounced, ibmetimcs produced on the final eute, with dif- tindt intervals, like the llghs of a perfon in dif- trefs. In either cafe, this cry fcems to be the plaintive expreflion infpired by unfatisfied love. [A] Specific character of the Larus Glaucus : «' It is white; ** its back and wings hoary ; its wing-quills tipt with white ; its '* bUI bright yellow, with the corner fafFron." '■ I ; v\: lii- ■", Mm (i- '-,.■ C 3«8 ] The BRQWN GULL. .. ' r ,.. _ r THIRD SPECIES. m Larus Catarrha^es. Linn, and Ginel. ■' Larus Fuf.us. Brifl". CatanaSles, Gefner, Sibbald, and Will. Catarra^ia. Aldrov. Johnft. and Charlcton. The Skua Gull, Penn. and Lath. 'np H I s Gull has its plumage of an uniform ^ dufky brown over the whole body, except the belly, which is ftriped acrofs with brown on a gray ground, and the great quills of the wing, which are black. It is fomewhat fmaller than the preceding, its length from the bill to the extremity of the tail being only a foot and eight inches, and an inch lefs to the nails, which are fliarp and flout. Ray obferves, that the whole habit of the body of this bird befpeaks rapine and carnage ; and fuch indeed is the bafe and cruel afpedt of all the fanguinary tribes of gulls. It is to this fpecies that naturalifts have gene- rally referred the CatarraSles of Ariftotle *, which, as the word imports -f*, defcends with rapidity to feize its prey; which agrees well * Hift. Animal, lib. ix. 12. f From Kal« downwards, and 'Pi« to flow : hence »lfo the word iatarad. with BROWK GULL 3^9 rown on with what Wilhighby reports of the great p;u 11, that it dafhcs its head againfl the board on which the fifliernien fix the bait. The Caiarradtes of Ariftotlc is undoubtedly a marine bird, fincc, according to the philofopher, it drinks fca- waicr "*. The Brown Guil in fadl occurs on the ocean, and the fpecies appears to be fettled in the high latitudes on both fides of the equa- tor ; it is common in the Feroe iflands, and on the coafts of Scotland "f*. It feems even more diffufcd on the fhores of the South Sea ; uiid is probably the bird which our navigators denomi- nate the cohlar (cordonnier %J without hinting at the ♦ Nothing furely is mbre falfe than what Oppian fays, that the Catarraftes contents itfelf with dropping its eggs upon the fe.i- Wecds, and leaving them to be foftered by the wind ; unlefs it be what he adds, that about the time they arc to hatch, the mal& and female take each in their claws an egg which is to proditco a chick of their own fex, and let them fall repeatedly on the feuj till by this exercife the young birds burft from their prifon. f CatarraSies Nofter. Sibbald. J According to the notes which the Vifcount de Querhoent has had the goodnefs to communicate, the cobler occurred in his route* hot only near the Cape of Good Hope, but in higher or lower latitudes in the open fea. This obfcrver feems to oi.K.-^uifli a greater and a leffer fpecies of thefe birds, as will appear /rom tlia following extradl : " I believe that the inhabitants of the water li' c more friendly «' and focially than thofe of the land, though of v zvy different fpe- «' cies and fixes : they alight pretty near each other without any " miftruft ; they hunt in company, and I never but once faw a « fight between a frigat and the lefler kind of cobler; it lafted «* pretty long in the air, and ea©h defended itfelf with its wings " and its bill : the cobler, though incomparably weaker, eluded by " its agility the formidable blows of its antagonift, and did not VOL. VIII. 2 B "yield; ti ■.'■ "i 370 BROWN GULL, the reafon of that appellation. The Englifh found numbers of them at Port-Egmont, in the Falkland or Malouine iflands, and have there- fore filled them the Port Egmont hens *. We cannot do better than tranfcribe the account given in the fecond voyage of the celebrated Captain Cook. *< yield ; it was vanqoiflied, when a petrel which chanced to be ** near repaired to the fcene, and, by pafling and re-pafling feve- " ral times between the combatants, eiFefted their fcparation ; the ** cobler through gratitude followed its deliverer, and came with it « round the ftiip." * On the 24th of February, in latitude 44" 40', on the coafts of New Zealand, Mr. Banks, being in the b'oat, killed two Porc- Egmont hens, exaftly like thofe which we had f(5und in great numbers on the ifland of Faro, and which were the firft that we faw on this coafi, though we had met with feveral a few days before we difcovered land. Cooi.'—ln 50** 14' latitude fouth, and 95*^ 18' longitude weft, as many birds were flying abcut the fhip, we took the opportunity of the calm to kill fome of them ; one was of the fpecies which we have fo often mentioned under the name of the Port Egmont hen, a fort of gull nearly of the fize of a raven, and of a deep brown plumage, except below each wing, where there were fome white feathers ; tlie reft of the birds were albatrofle« and flieer-waters. / and 1 a white are black- , and four he largeft, h meafure alive from This bird re it killed I the fordid }eiflands Siua; familiarity jy22S THE AN^AGKL GtfLL . iff li-, '■ ' I! 1 1 i k I 1*1 I. ' i *^^ ri ■; "iff llv'li li M fT /« I,:: »'■'■" It ■! ■ 'I 'I G R I S A R D. 373 familiarity of a voracious animal, which hunger only attaches to the hand that feeds it. It fwallowed flat fifh almoft as broad as its body ; and with equal avidity it devoured raw flefh, and even fmall animals entire, fuch as moles, rats, and birds *. A gull of this kind, which Anderfon received from Greenland, attacked fmall animals, and fiercely defended itfelf with its bill againft dogs and cats, and took pleafure in biting their tails. On fliowing it a white handkerchief, it was fure to fcream with a piercing tone, as if that recalled to its memory fome foe which it dreaded at fea. All the Grifards are, according to the obfer- vations of M. Baillon, of a dirty and dark gray when young j but after the firft moult the tint grows more dilute, the belly and the neck whiten firft, and, in three moults, the plumage is entirely waved and freckled with gray and white, fuch as we have defcribed it. The white afterwards continues to gain ground, and the aged birds are entirely hoary. If the plu- mage, therefore, were the fole foundation of diftindlion, we fhould admit an unneceflary number of fpecies, fince nature varies to fuch degree the colours with the years. In this, as in all the other gull^ and mews. 1r ■*i'"iiri; ■i.ii •Ii-i'; -, I' ' >S I ■' ' * Whence probably the feble of Oviedo C^'A ^nd. Occid. lib. xiv. 18.) has been applied to the Grifard, of a bird which has one. foot webbed for fwimming ;and the other armed with talons for feizing its prey. ? B 3 the '■'ffi' ) •■ 37+ G R J S A R D. •', the female appears rather fmaller than the male, Belon remarks, that it is not common in the Mediterranean, that it feldom occurs in our in- terior provinces *, but is numerous on our weft- ern coafls, It roams very far to fea, fince we are aflured of its being found in Madagafcar -f* , But the congenial region of this fpecies feems to be the North. Thefe birds are the firft wi:ich the velTels meet in approaching Green- land J J and they conftantly attend thofe em- ployed in the whale-fifhery, following them even amidfl the ice. When a whale is killed, they alight in myriads on the floating carcafe, and tear it on all fides § : and though the filhers labour to drive them nv, ay, by ftriking with poles and oars, they can hardly, without felling them, make them quit their hold ||. This fenfelefs obftinacy has occafioned the Dutch name Ma/- lemucke oxjiupid becift 5[. " T^^efe foolifh, fordid • M. Lottinger pretends that he has fcen fome of thefe birds on the great pools of Lorraine, in the fi(hing feafon; and M. Her- mann fpeaks of a Grifard killed in the neighbourhood of Straf- burg. f NoU communicated by Dr. Mauduit, X Klein. § The herrings afford abundant fubfiftence to thefe legions of birds : Zorgdrager fays, that he faw a quantity of herring bones about the nefts of the water-fowl on the rocks of Greenland. Pechc de la Baleiue, par tie ii. 7. II Memoirs of the Academy of Stockholm. f From malU which Cgnilies fottifi ox fiupid\ and mocktt which y^ pld Qerniatx means beafi or animaf, f? birds. id mocke, which G R I S A R D. 375 '!• iW'l' fiiH 378 BURGOMASTER. Martens, ** they flock about it, and ileal large ** pieces of the blubber. They may then be *• eafily killed -, but it is impoflible to gain its ** nell, which it places on the fummit and in " the clefts of the higheft rocks. The Burgo- ** majier,'* he adds, •* intimidates the malicmucke, ** which, however ftout it be, fubmits to be ** beaten and pecked, without attempting to re- ** taliate. When the Burgomafter flies, its " white tail fpreads like a fan. Its cry refem- " bles that of a raven : it purfues the young ** lumbsy and often hovers about the fea-horfes, ** whofe dung it feems to fwallovv." According to Willughby, the eggs of this gull are whitiHi, fprinkled with fome blackirti fpots, and as large as hen's eggs. Father Feuil- lee mentions a bird on the cnafls of Chili and Peru, which, by its figure, its colours, and its voracity, refembles this northern gull, but which is probably fmaller ; for that travelled naturaliil fays, that its eggs arc only fomewhat larger than thof=; of the partridge. He fub- joins, that he found its ftomach entirely filled with the feathers cf certain fmall birds of the coafts of the South Sea, which the natives call toco'^uito* [ 379 ] .itir The GRAY and WHITE-MANTLED GULL. SIXTH SPECIES. harm Fujlus. Linn, and Gmel. Gwvia GriJ'ea, BrifT. The Uet'ringGull, Penn. and Lath, T T is probable that this Gull, defcrlbed by Father Feuillee, and which is nearly as large as the gray-mantled Gull, is only a fliade or va- riety of that fpecies, or of fome of the preced- ing, at a certain age. Its figure and ftrudure feem to lead to that inference. Its mantle, fays the Jefuit, is gray mixed with white, and fo is the upper furface of the neck, of which the fore fide is light gray, and all its livery: the quills of the tail are dull red lead colour, and the top of the head is gray. He adds, as a fingular property, that the inner toe has only two joints, the middle one three, and the outer four, which is therefore the longefl j but this fli u;5ture, the mofl favourable for fwimming, fince the broadefl part of the fole has thus the greatcft compifs of motion, occurs in a great number of aquatic birds, and even among the waders. We have obferved particularly in the jacana, the fultana, and the water hen, that the outer toe contained four phalanges, the middle one three, and the inner only two. 8 ■;l ■Kfc, n- [ 38o ] The WHITE MEW. F FIRST SPECIES. Larus Eburneus. Gmtlin and Phipps. Tht Ivory Gull. Pcnn. and Lath. ROM what we have faid of the wagels, which whiten with age, we might fuppofc that this is only an old one j but it is much fmaller than that gull ; its bill is neither fo large, nor fo ilrong, and its plumage is pure white, without any tinge or fpot of gray. It exceeds not fifteen inches from the end of the bill to that of the taih It is defcribed in Cap- tain Phipps's * voyage to the north : he obferves very properly, that this fpecies has not been de- lineated in the Linnxan fydem, and that the bird called raths-herr; or fenator, by Martens, perfedly refembles it, except in the feet, to which Martens attributes only three toes. But if we fuppofe the fourth toe, which is very mi-? * " The whole bird is fnowy and fpotlefs; its bill lead-coloured; " its orbits fafFron, afh-Icaden ; its nails black; its hind-toe jointed " and nailed; its wings longer than its tail; its tail equal, and longer " than its feet . I'he whole length of the bird, from the tip of the " bill to the end of the tail, is fixtecn inches ; the diftance between « the tips of the fpread wings, thii ty-fcven inches ; the bill twQ •' inches.'* nute, SPOTTED MEW. 38« nute, to have clcaped the obfervation of that na- vigator, it would exadtly correfpond to his raths' herr. Its whitenefs furpafTes that of fnowj and the (lately pace of the bird on the ice has pro- cured it the appellation oiraths-herr^ orfenator. Its voice is low and ftrong ; and whereas the little mews or kirmews feem to call kir or kair^ the Senator founds kar. It is ufually folitary, unlefs fome prey colledts a certain number of them. Martens favv them alight on the carcafes of fea- horfes, and devour their dung. [A] Specific charaftcr of the Larus Lburneus : ** It is all white, " its orbits faftron, its bill and feet lead-coloured." The SPOTTED MEW; or, the KUTGEGHEF. SECOND SPECIES. Larus R.ga. 1 g^^,^ LarHS TrtdaSIylus. j Gavia Chierca N^cvia. 1 -o 'rr Ca'via Cinerea. j Larus Cinerens Pi/cator. Klein. The Tarrock of the Cornilh. The Kittituakt of the Scotch. •' XIZ H I L E we were cutting up the whale- ^' ** blubber," fays Martens, " a number ** of thefe birds came fcreaming about our fhip, " and ■ ■ ii' , 'iii' !'• 'A .') 'J If' ,,■1 •I'M, m Iff 'ill' !i|: :;ri. ^jjii* 382 SPOTTED MEW. ** and feemed to pronounce kutgeghef'* That found refembles, indeed, the fort of fneezing, keph^ keph, which feveral captive gulls utter, and from which we conjed:ured the Greek name K67r((>og Was derived. This bird exceeds not in bulk the ■white mt w ; it is only fifteen inches long : the plumage confifls of a line white ground on the fore fide of the body, and gray on the mantle, hiarked with fome ftreaks of the fame gray that form a kind of half-collar on the upper fide of the neck; it is diftinguiflied alfo by fpots of white and black mixed on the coverts of the wing, with varieties, however, which we fhall mention. The hind toe, which is very fmall in all the mews, is fcarce perceptible in this one, as Belon and Ray obferve. And hence Martens fays, that it has only three toes : he adds, that it always flies rapidly againft the wind, however violent this blows ; but that it is perpetually purfued and harrafled by the hivdijirundt-jager *, and conftrained to void its excrements, which the latter greedily fwallows. In a fubfequent article -f, we fliall find that this depraved tafte has been erroneoufly imputed to the Jlrundt-^ jager. This Spotted Mew occurs not only in the feas of the north, it alfo inhabits the coafts of Eng- land J and Scotland ||. Belon, who met with it * i. e. Dung- hunter. f See the article of the Dung-birti. \ Ray. II Sibbald. in S P O T T E D M E W. 3*^ in Greece, fays, that he recognized it merely from the name larosy which it ilill bears in that country : and Martens, after having obferved it at Spitzbergen, found it again in the Spanish feas, fomewhat different, indeed, yet ftill diftin- guifhablej whence he very judiciouily infers, that animals of the fame fpecies in diftant coun- tries muft ever receive impreflions from the cli- mates. So great is the difference in the prefent cafe, that this fpecies has been fplit into two : the cinereous mew of Briffon, and his cinereom Jpotted mew, are unqueftionably the fame, as a comparifon of the figures will evince. And what completely eftablifhes our pofition, is a feries of fubje(fts, which exhibits a gradual pro- grefs of the black and white of the wing, from the mottled colours to the fimple gray. The gray half- collar on the top of the neck is com- mon to all the individuals of this fpecies. Flocks of thefc Mews appeared fuddenly near Semur in Auxois, in the month of February 1775. They were very eafily killed, and were found dead or half-ftarved with hunger in the mea- dows, the fields, and the brinks of rivulets. On opening them, their ftomach was found to con- tain fome fragments of fifhes, and their intef- tines a blackiih jelly. Thefe birds were not known in the country; their appearance lafted only a fortnight; tliey were brought by a flrong fouth wind, which blew all that time *. • Obferv.ation ammunkatul by M, de MontbeillarJ. [A] Specific i,.„ ;:J! : ■I- i '4u %- i 'i^ m. 3^4 GREAT CINEREOUS ME\^* (A] Specific charafter of the Kiaiw.ke, Larus Riga: «* It is *« white, its back hoary> its tail-quills entirely white, its feet have «* three toes." — Specific character of the Tarrock, Laruj Tridaily- lus : *' It is whitifh, its back fomewhat hoary, its tail-quills, except ** the outermoft, tipt with black ; its feet have three toes," But Mr. Latham very properly clafTes them under the fame fpecics, the Tarrock being only the young bird* The GREAT CINEREOUS MEW; or, the BLUE-FOOTED MEW. THIRD SPECIES. Larus Canus. Linn, and Gmcl. Gai a Cinerea. BrifT. GaUilor, Crocala, Galetra, Aldrov, Gahtano Aliiiore. Zinn. Larms Rojiro Nigra. Klein. Larus Cinereiis Minor. Will. Ray, and Sibb. The Common Sea-Mall, or Meiv. Will, and Ray. The White Web-footed Gull. Albin. The Conmon Gull. Penn, and Lath. 'T*^ H E blulfh colour of the feet and bill, con- -*• ftant in this fpecies, ought to diftinguifh it from the others, which have the feet generally of flefli-colour, more or lefs vermilion or livid. It is fixteen or feventeen inches long, from the point of the bill to the end of the tail j its man- tle is light cinereous j feveral of the wing-quills are furrowed with black; all the reft- of its plumage is fnowy white. Wlllughby It GREAT CINEREOUS MEW. 38s Willughby reckons this the moft common fpecies in England. It is called the grand emi^ aulle * on the coafts of Picardy. M. Baillon has made the following obfervations on the different fhades of colours that its plumage aifumes in the fucceflive moultings : in the firft year the quills of the wings are blackifh j and not till the fecond moulting do they acquire the diftin^ black and the white fpots with which they are variegated : no young Mew has a white tail, the end is always black or gray -, at the fame age the head and the upper lide of the neck are marked with fome fpots, which are by degrees obliterated, and give place to pure white : the bill and the feet gain not their full colour till two years old. To thefe general obfervations, very impor- tant as they are to flop the unnecefTary mul- tiplication of fpecies from individual varieties, M. Baillon adds fome on the particular nature of the Blue-footed Mew. It is more difficult to tame than the reft, yet it feems not fo wild in the flate of liberty : it fights lefs, and js nu£ fo voracious as mofl of the others j but it is not fo fprightlyas the little cinereous Mew. When kept in a garden, it fought earth-worms : if of- fered fmall birds, it would not touch them till they were half-torn ; which fhews that it is not * i. e. The Great Menvt from miauhr, to fquall like a cat; whence the Englifh verb to menult and the names of thef^ bird» Mall and ilf# They appear to be the fame with the gray gulls mentioned in the Portuguefe relations of India, under the denomination ^/vr^/w, and which na- vigators meet with in numbers on the. paflage from Madagafcar to the Maldives -f-. To fome fimilar fpecies alfo we niuft refer the bird called famhiiagan in Lu9on, and which is a gray Mew of Tmall fize, according to the (hort defcription given by Camel in his account of the Philippine birds, inferted in the Philofophical Tranfa<5tions. ■$^,T * ** The tattaret is a little commoi; gull; it derives its name from '* its cry. It is the fmalleft, but the handfomell of the birds of this « clafs : it would be enti; ely white, were not its back azure. The *• tattaret i build in flocks, on the fumndts -^f the moft craggy rocks'; «* and if a perfon approaches them, they begin to fly with ftirill ** cries, as if they would frighten people away with the hideous ** Jioife." hi[i. Gen, des Voyages, torn, xix. p. 47. . f On this track there arc always feen numbers of birds, fach as gray guUs, which the Portuguefe call garaios . . . Thefe gulls come to alight on the veflels, and fuff^er themfelves to be caught by the hand, withuut fearing the fight of men, as having never experienced them: thoy had the fame fate with the flying-filh, which they hunt on thefc ieas, and which, being purfued at once by the birds and the iilheo, often throw themfelves on board the veflTels. Voyages qui ont/erwi a VEtabliffemr.f de li Compagnie des Jndes Orientates ', Am- fterdam,i'jo2ttom.\. p. Aj-j, [A] Specific characl(!r of the Larus Cinerarius : " It is white, *' its back hoary, with a brown fpot behind the €ye$." C 389 ] •>'; • k i<.K The LAUGHING MEW. FIFTH SPECIES, Linn, and Gmel. } Biiff. Larus Ridibundus. 1 Larus Atricilla, j Ga ■>i." I' /^v ^h 392 LAUGHING MEW, I "1 % »;•-•■ [A] Specific charafler of the Black-headed Gull, Larut RiJi- luudus : " It is whitifli, its head blackifh, its bill and feet red."— « Specific charaftcr of the Lau^.unp Gull, Larus Jtricilla: ** It ii " fomewhat hoary, its head blackiili, its bill red, its feet black." We fhall tranfcribe Dr. Plott's account of the manner of catch Ag the Pewits lad century in StafFordfliire. After relating fome mar- vellous flories refpefling their attachment to the lord of th'r in ;mor» he thus proceeds: " Being of the migratory kind, their fir!, ap- *' pearance is not till the latter end of February, and then in number ** fcarce above fix, which come as harbingers to the reft, to fee whe- " ther the hafts or iflands in the pools (upon which they build " their nefts) be prepared for theip ; but thefe never fo much as ** lighten, but riy over the pool, fcarce ftaying an hour : about " the 6tli of March following, there comes a pretty confiderable *' flight of an hundred or more, and then they alight on the hafts, ** and ftay all day, but are gone again at night. About our Lady- *' day, or fooner in a forward fpring, they come to ftay for good, •' othe^^vi(e not till thi beginning of April, when they build their " nefts, which they make no: of rticks, but heath and ru(hes, *' making them but fliallow, and laying generally but four eggs, « three and five more rarely, which are about the bignefs of a fmall " hen egg. The hafts or iflands are prepared for them between Mi- *♦ chaelmas and Chiiftmas, by cutting down the reeds and rufhes, " and putting them afidc in the nooks and corners of the hafts, and *« in the valleys, to make them level ; for fhould they be permitted *' to rot on the iflands, the pewits would not endure them. «' After three weeks fitting the young ones are hatched, and about « a monih after they are aimoft ready to fly, which ufually happens ** on the 3d of June, when the proprietor of the pool orders them to « be driven and catched, the gentry coming from all parts to fee the " fport: tbe manner is thus — :They pitch a rabbet-net 90 the bank- *' fide, in the moft convenient place over-againft the hafts, the net «' in the middle being about ten yards from the fide, but cJofe at *' the ends in the manner of a bow ; then fix or feven men wade into ** the pool, beyond the pt wits, over-againll the net, with long (laves, ** and drive them from the hafts, v/hence they all fwim to the bank- ** fide, and landing, run I'^e lapwings into the net, where people are *« Handing ready to take them up, and put them into two pens made « within the bow of the net, which are built round, about three «* yards diameter, and a yard high, or fomewhat better, with fmall « Hakes driven into the ground in a circle, and interwoven with « broom and pther raddles,"— -.(This dcfcriptioa is illuftrated by an engraving). " In LAUGHING MEW. 393 <' In which manner there have been taken in one morning fifty ** dozens at a driving, which, at five Ihillings a dozen (the ancient *' price of tliem) comes to £. 1 1. los. : but at foveral diihs that have " been anciently made in the fame morning, there ha\ . been a3 ** many taken as have fold for £. 30; io that feme years the profit of " them has amounted to j^. 50 or/. 60, befide what the generous ** proprietor ufually prefents his relations and the nobility and gen« « try of the county withal, which he conflantly does in a plentiful *' manner, fending them to their houfes in crates alive ; fo that fecd- *' ing them with livers and other entrails of beads, they may kill them " at what dillance of time they pleafe, according as occafions pre- " fent themfclves, they being accounted a good dilh at the moll plen> «< tiful tables. " But they commonly appoint three days of driving them, within *• fourteen days, or thereabouts, of the 2d or 3 o- Tur. ; which, while ** they are doing, fome have obferved a certai .e that feems to " be fomewhat more concerned than the reil, . .,. 232 and 233. V. 'Pi Mif t-l' ■I t'M. it: !'^^ Vi' : S^r IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // ^m it. In coi^fiftenpe and colour, it pretty much refembles boiled i'* ftarch, or rather a folution of gum tr^gacantb. 1 fet fome of this ^ gelly on the fire in a filver veflel : it did not diflblve, as does cold ** boiled ftarch when it is fet again upon the fire ; but became thick ff and vifcpus ; the more fl^ld or watery part of it having gone off ** in vapAur. I let it ftand till the humidity was all evaporated. To " the bottom of the veflel adhered certain fliins and veffels, like thofe *' of animal bodies. The infide of the porringer fipon this operation ** exhibited a gliftering like that of ifinglafs ; and there proceeded f* from it a kind of greafy fmell. Another experiment I made of the » gelly broken and put into fpring-water, which i fet to feeih upon ** the fire, but not much of it diffolved. A piece of muHin being ** dipt into it fo managed as with ftarch, was ftiffened as with that. f* The glofs that it gave to the muflin might be rubbed off. The '* S^^^y bcii^S pPt ii ^ gorged by herons and bitterns after having fed upon frogs, which ** they fometimes do. Sir William Craven once (hot a bittern by •* one of Winwick pools, which after great heaving and working " of her breaft, at length difcharged a quantity of this fort of gelly. " The worthy Mr. Thomas Gierke, of Watford, affures me, that " he has feen a mais of fhir-geliy, wherein appeared the head and ** other parts of a frog almoll diflblved into a gelly, like to that " which encompaffed it. Having kept a parcel of frogs fpawn ** ibme time by me, it had a fmell very like that of corrupted ftar- <•* Ihot. Others of them, it is not unlikely, are difgorged by crows, ** when they feed over-abunciantly on earth-worms. The carrion <' crow will likewife feed upon frogs and toads too, pecking, them •♦ into pieces, and fo devouring them ; whereas the herons, &c. ** fwallow them whole. The gelly upon the dead hedge, and on the ** cherry-ladder, in the indances above-mentioned, I am apt to " think came from crows or rooks. . . . ** *Tis ufual with birds, the more ravenous fort efpecially, to call ** up what b uneafy and burthenfome to their ftomachs. This is '* well known to thofe who are converfant and experienced in the '* bufinefs of ordering and managing of birds, efpecially hawks. •* We may reafonably fuppofe, that all other birds that have a ** membranous llomach, and voracious appetite, do the fame upon '* any the like occafion ; thefe in particular I have now mention^ " ed, namely, herons and bitterns, which have a membranous Jlo- ** mach, as have all th.; carnivorous birds : and the Winter-Mew, -.'•'•' t .-■ ' " and :i^ 1 I' f I i,.! 1.V i;.r 1:!' m % f ; i 39* GULLS and mews. After this enumeration of the fpecies of Gulls and Mews well defcribed and diftind:ly known, we (hall mention a few others, which might probably be ranged with the preceding, if their indications were more complete. 1. That which Briflbn calls the little gray mew, faying, that it is equal in bulk to the great cinereous mew ; and which fcems to difFer from that fpecies, or from that of the gray-mantled lull, becaufe it has white mixed with gray on the back. ""' ,i. ;•.•-• ^ /i:-.- 2. That great Sea-Mew, mentioned by An* derfon, which preys on an excellent fifh, called in Iceland runmagen. He tells us, that this bird carries it a(hore, and eats only the liver; and that the peafants inflrud the children to run up to the Mew as foon as it alights, and fnatch from it the fifh. : / - 3. The bird killed by Mr. Banks, in the la- titude of 1° 7' north, and longitude 28° 50', and which he terms the black-footed gully or larus ere- pidatus. The excrements were of a bright red^ - ^nd the carrion crow, whofe ftomachs are not furniihed with fach ** thick mufcles, as are thofe of the granivorous birds. Thefe, the «* fFinter-Menu particularly, having glutted and overcharged their *• ftomachs with earth- worms, or the like cold andvifcid food, they " caft it up again not duly diflblved ; then efpeeiri^ly when the ** earth-worms, &c. are a new or more uncommon fort of food= to ■* them. We have a parallel inftance in fome forts of fiihcv accord^ * ing to the curious and judicious Mr. Ray, who takes the Ball* " Marina, which are little round lumps {fome of them as btf as '• tennis-balls] offe/fuea amaffed together, to be cafl; out of &&es ••ftomachs.** - ,< , . ■ 3 approaching GULLS AND MEWS. 3^ approaching that of the liquor contained in the helix, which floats on the fea ; which renders it probable that the bird feeds on that ihell-fifh. 4. The Mew called by the inhabitants of the ifland of Lu^on tartngting, and*^ which, from the chara : '■ . J . \uyi}'ix:^: ' • 5 '. '■« ■ I f;: .,. '>;;i5-.""«i -• ■ ) . \ \n m ► i;I1riii ! J. If \/ i.> I' pi I ■H li :■ ;^t| -Hi- I I 400 J, i ;. 1; u: The LABBE, or DUNG-BIRD. ^ ■" '* Larus Crepietatus. Gmel. X\\ .„,,Catarraela-Cepphu$, Will, and Ray. Stercorarius. Briff. 5/r«W-yVj^f>-, of the North. . [< J .; The Biack'toed Gull. Penn. and Lath. i v.y » J . c •ONSIDERING its fize and figure, this bird might be ranged with the mews. But if it be of that family, it has loft all fraternal afFedtion ; for it is the avowed and eternal per- fecutor of its kindred, and particularly of the kittiwake. It keeps a fteady eye on them, and when it perceives them betake to flight, it pur- fues without intermiflion. The people of the north report that its objeifl is to obtain the excrements from thofe unhappy little mews; and they have, for that reafon, called it Strund- jager, to which Stercorarius is fynonymous. Moft probably, however, this bird does not devour the dung, but only the fifli which the kittiwakes drop from their bill or difgorge * : elpecially * Some naturalifts have alledged, that certain fpecle^ of gulls purfue others for their excrements. I have done all that was in my power to afcertain this fa£l, which I was always av^rfe to be- lieve. I have frequently repaired to the fea-lhore to make obfer- vations. [RD. his bird But if fraternal nal per- jr of the em, and , it pur- e of the tain the mews; Strund- )nymous. iocs not hich the gorge * : jfpecially :Ies of gulls that was in iv6rfe to be- make obfer- vationsy THE BLACK TOED GULL. 'It. •I 4 ' .% ■•■fi i ■i'..« V-:\ t. *K !1 r :i!|: ii"'. .i!l ill .If ■'ti •'.'J- /■!^l ^ 1-, 1 'ii i c r I J t c fi t( ' f( (4 V , t] o d ti -b ir a P' tc hi €< s th th M ^■*4 L A '^ the firft which per- ceives it ihoots down to fnatch the prey; and if the fortunate plun- derer haftensnot to fwallow th6 capture, it will be purfued in its turn by others ftill ftronger, which ftrike it violently with their bill; it cannot aVcid them but by efcaping, or by repelling its ene- my i and whether that the fiih incumbers its flight, or that it is over- come with fear, or fenfible that the fiih is the fole motive of the purfuit, it quickly throws it up ; the other, which fees it drop, catches it dextroufly before it reaches the water, and feldom tmSis to receive it. ^ The fiih appears always white in the air, becaufe it refle£ls the light, and Teems, by reafon of the celerity of the flight, to drop be-* hind the gull which vomits it. Thefe two circumftanees have de^^ ceived obfervers. ' I have verified the fame fafl in my garden } I chafed fbmelargi gulls fliouting after them ; they ran and difgorged the fiih whiC^ they had juft fwallowed j I thlPew it to them, arid they caught it ih; the air, with as much alertnefs as dogs. Nett communicetid hy M* Saillon, of Montreuil-fur-mtr* . . ,,yOL, VIII. 2D " O^U \- i /ti; '■■ *•'■ 40i L A B B £. « «4 it « M «« " call la^, labi it immediately repairs to receive •* the fifli, whether raw or drefTed, or the other ** food which is offered to it. It alfo takes the herrings out of the buiTes, and if they are fak- ed, it wafhes them before fwallowing. One can hardly approach it or fire upon it, un-^ •* lefs fome bait be thrown. But the fifhermen " are kind to it, as it is an almod infallible •* fign of a herring- fhoal ; and when the Labbo does not appear, their fuccefs is fniall. This bird is almoft always on the feas generally two or three appear together, and very fel- ** dom five or fix. When it cannot find pro- •* vifion at fea, it comes to the beach and at- ** tacks the mews, which fcream on its appear- •' ancc : but it rufhes on them, and overtaking ** themt it alights on their back, and obliges ** them to cafl up the fifli which they had jufl •* fwallowed. This bird, as well as the mews, lays its eggs on the rocks ; the male is blacker and rather larger than the female *.'* Though it is the Long-tailed Labbe to which thefe obfervations feem chiefly to apply, we con- ceive that they relate alfo to the fpecies now under confideration, whofe tail is fafhioned fo that the two middle feathers are the longefl,. but do not much exceed the others. Its bulk, is nearly e(^ual to that of the little mew, and its colour is dun cinereous, waved with gray^ «< « • CoUe^Uon Aca ti^i$ ttrtngtrt, tm» xi. /. ^f . iih: I ■ r I L A B B £. 403 ifli * : the wings arc very large, and the legs are formed as in the mews, only not quite fo flrong ; the toes arc fhorter. But the bill differs more from that of thefe birds, the end of the upper mandible being armed with a nail or hook that appears added ; a charadter in which the bill of the Labbe refembles that of the petrels, though the noilrils are not tubular. ... The Labbe has, in the carriage of its head, fomething of the bird of prey, and its predatory life belies not its appearance. It walks with its body eredt, and fcreams very loud : it feems, fays Martens, to pronounce i-ja or johan, when heard at a diflance, and its voice refounds. Their mode of life neceiTarily difperfes them *, and that navigator fays, that they are rarely found toge-* ther : he adds, that the fpecies feemed not to be numerous, and that he met with few about Spitzbergen. The ftormy winds of the month of November, I779> drove two of thefe birds upon the coa^ls of Picardy : they were fent to tis by M% Baillon, and from them we have made the preceding defcription. * lliis colour is lighter beW the body ; q^ fometimcs^ accord* 4ng to Martens, the bei^ is white. {A} SpeciAc eKal«^)er of the LAru* CrepiJatus > ** Iti two mid« ^ dfe tail 'qailk are loi\ger than the reft." It is fbuad in the north- ern parts of Earope and America» and even on the Atlantic. It weigh? eleven ounces ; its length isjifteen inches, and its alar extent i^rtjr-nine. Linnaeus (ays, that it lays two eggs, wliichare palc lerruginous, Tpotted iHth black. h It » 11 y 'I 'i ' d "■1 / m .» Il ! .1 . ■■(■!•! '\:r ( 404 3 The LONG-TAILED LABBE. 1\k- ?■;:;';'•; €fi; . .' V 'l 1. , -t < ' I '-re l,arus Parajtticus. Linn, and Gmeir Stercora^ius Lonoicautius. BriiT. Plauiui Siercorarius. Klein. , , Catarralia Parafitica. Brun. '■ ' '■ The Araic Bird. Edw. ' , ' -iic: ' • - . t;^^ .^inff/f G«//. Peon, and Lath. • j ! ■ ^ '! • ; ; : i 'T^HE produdlion of the two middle feathers '*' of the tail in two detached and diverging ihafts, charaderifes this fpecies, which is of the fame bulk with the preceding. It has a black cap on the head ; its neck is white, and all the reft of its plumage gray : fometimes the two long feathers of the tail are black. This bird ivas fent to us from Siberia, and we think that it is the fame fpecies with that found by Gmelin in the plains of Mangafea, near the banks of the river Jenifea. It occurs likewife in Norway, and even in Finmark and Angermania: and Edwards received it from Hudfon's Bay, where, he obferves, the £ngli(h, no doubt on account of its hoftilities againft the mew, call it the Man-of-war Bird i a name beforehand applied; <* In Denmark it is called StronJt-jager, or Schyt-valk (dung* bird) : m Sweden S'wart-lafe ; and in Angermania Labbtn : in I^Toiwa/ Kyujpwa or Tjufva* 1 » - ' and M at n «( •l:i.'^ LONG-TAILED LABBE. 405 and with better reafon, to the frigat. That au* thor adds, that, from the length of its wings and the weaknefs of its legs, he fhould have judged that this bird Hved more flying at fea than walkiiig on land : yet, he remarks, the feet are asf rough as a file, and proper to cling to the (lippery backs of large fiflies. Edwards enter- tains the fame opinion with us, that the Labbe, by the form of its bill, is intermediate between the mews and petrels.'** -•^^- to- ^shaiDji: a h | BrifTon reckons a third fpecies of Labbe, the Stercorarius Striatus * 5 but, as it is founded on Edwards* defcription, who regarded it as the female of the Long -tailed Labbe, We cannot •adopt it. We alfo are of opinion, that it is only a variety from age or fex ; and we even fufpecft that our firft fpecies might perhaps ad- mit the fame arrangement. In that cafe, we fhould have only one kind of Labbe, of which the adult or male would be that with two long feathers in the tail, and the female would be that reprefented by Edwards; the mantle deep afh- brown on the wings and tail, with the fore fide of the body of a dirty white gray ; the thighs, the lower belly, and the rump> crofled with blackifli and brown lines. , --- - --- -..^ M»v • " Above brown ; the feathers edged at the tip with tawny ; ■* below dirty white, ftriped tranfverfely with brown j its head '* brQwn ; its throat whitifh brown ; its tail-quills white at their " origin, and deep brown the reft of their length." Brifon. [A] Specific charafter of the iflr«; Parapicus : ** Its two mid- *' die tail'^iiaiUs are very long." 2D 3 ' t *»M J ••/ V i »' ^' i ,< < T ■"','' . i > . i- ^:.,.'' .;• ? , The A N H I N G A. -• /?■ <.. '. ^iitfts jStthiHga, Linn, and Gmel. *"• - ^ 1^ The fFhite-MUcd Darter, Lath, T F regularity of form in animals, and fymme- ** try of proportion, flrike us as gracciful and ^autifulx and if the rank which we affign them COrrefponds to the feelings they excite ; nature Jcnows not Aich diflindions. She loves them becaufe they are the children of her creation j and her attachment requires no other plea. She cheriihes alike in the defert the elegant gazel * ^d (he {hapelefs camel -, the pretty muik 'f* and the gigantic giraff% : fhe launches into the air at once the magnificent eagle and the hideous vulture i and fhe conceals under the earth and in the waters generations innumerable of infeds, fashioned In every fantailic fhape. All varieties of figure and ftrudture fhe admits, provided they are fuited to the fubfiftence and propagation of the kind. The mantes live under the form of a leaf: the fea-urchins are imprifoned within a ipherical ftiell ; the vital juices filter and circulate * JntiUpe't>ereas. Xaxm. The Barbarian Antelope. JPenn, ■\ Mofcbus Pjgmteus, Linn. The Guinea Mujht Penn. I Camelofardtilit'Giraffa% Linn, Tht Qamtlo^ard, Penn, through X217 THR-WHITE-BELLIED AHmGO . "f. li' i A N H I N G A, 407 through the branches of the ajierias. The head of the xygena is flattened into a hammer ; and the whole body of the moon-fiili is rolled into a fpiny globe. And do not a thoufand other produdlions of figures equally ftrange demon- ftrate» that the univerfal mother has aimed at difFufing animation, and of extending it to all poffible forms ? Not content with varying the traces and (hades of the original pi(5tures, does not fhe feem folicitous to draw communicating lines from each genus to all the others; and thus, iiom her rudefl iketches to her moil finiihed performances, all are conne(^ed and interwoven? Thus we have feen that the odrichy the cafTowary, and the dodo, by the fhortnefs of their wings, the weight of their body, and the largenefs of the bones of their legs, form the (hade between the quadrupeds and the birds : the penguins are a-kin to the fi(h : and the Anhinga, the fubjed: of this article, exhibits a reptile grafted on the body of a bird. Its ex- ce/lively long and ilender neck, and its fmall cylindrical head, rolled out like a fpindle, of the fame girth with th^ neck, and drawn out into a long (harp bill, refemble both the figure and the motion of a fnake, whether the bird nimbly ex- tends its head to fiy from the tops of trees, or unfolds it and darts it into the water to pierce the fiOies, * . . , i ; Thefe fingular analogies have equally (truck all who have obferved the Anhinga in its Jiu- k :.i* 2D 4 tive Si. m t:h 4o8 A N H I N G a: tivc country* (Brazil and Guiana) ; they ilrike us even in the dried fpecimens of our cabinets. The plumage of the neck and head does not alter its flender fhape ; for it is a clofe down, ihaven like velvet : the eyes arc of a bril- liant black, v^ith the iris golden> and encircled by a naked fkin : the bill is jagged at the tip with fmall indentings turned backwards. The body is fcarcely feven inches long, and the neck alone meafures double. - ' ^ '* • '" -'. - • ' The extreme length of the neck is not the only difproportion that ftrikes us in the figure of the Anhinga, Its large and broad tail, compofed of twelve fpread feathers, differs no lefs from the fhort round fhape which obtains in mod of the fwimming birds : yet the Anhinga fwims, and even dives, only holding its head out of the water, in which it plunges entirely on the leafl fufpicion of danger : for it is very wild, and can never be furprized on land. It keeps con- ftantlyon the water, or perched on the tallefl trees, by the fides of rivers and in overflowed favannas. It builds its nefl on thefe trees, and repairs among them to pafs the night. Yet it is en- tu-ely palmated, its four toes being connected by a fingie piece of membrane, and the nail of the middle one fcrrated within. Thefe coincidences of flrud;ure and habits feem to indicate an afE- liity between the Anhinga and the cormorant ' , • Marcgrave.»i-Bancrct ^ ; \ ^^-^^ *■. . ' ^nd A N H I N G A. 409 ht I &nd boobies ; but its final] cylindrical head, and its bill drawh out to a point, without any hook, diflinguifh it from thefe two kinds of birds.-— The (kin of the Anhinga is very thick, and the flefh commonly fat, but has a difagreeable oily tafte : Marcgrave found it to be no better than that of the gull, which is furely very bad. None of the three Anhingas figured in our Planches Enlumtn^es exadly refembles that de- fcribed by Marcgrave. N° 960 has, like that naturalifl's, the upper fide of the back dotted, the end of the tail fringed with gray, and the reft of a (hining black: but all the body is black, the head and neck are not gray, and the bread is of a filvery white. N" 959 has not the tail fringed*. Yet we think that thefe two birds, which were brought from Cayenne, are really of the fame fpecies with the Brazilian Anhinga, defcribed by Marcgrave; the differ- ences of colours not exceedirlg what, in the plumage of the water birds efpecially, might refult from age or fex. Marcgrave remarks too, that the nails of his Anhinga were refledl- ed and very fharp, and that it ufes them to catch fifh 5 that its wings are large, and reach. • -- • Phtus Melanogajier, Gmel. ' " :<} ' . ^'^' Black-bellied Anhinga, Penn. *. ■l^he Black-bellied Darter. Lath. \ j^pecific chara£ter^ ** Its head is fmooth ; its belly black." when 410 RUFOUS ANHINGA. when clofed, to the middle of its long tail. He feems, however, to over-rate its bulk in com- paring it to the duck. The Anhinga which we knowy may be about thirty inches, or even more, from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail : but this large tail and its long neck occupy the largeA (hare of this meafure, and its body does ftot appear to exceed thact of a morillon. A' "^ . [A] Specific diaraAer of the Plotus Anhinga : ** Its head U finooth; its belly White." n- \ CKi i. i.N . 4 \. ! A - The RUFOUS ANHINGA. m^: Jnhif^a Mtlaaega^tr, \ar. $, GmeL TTTe have feen that the Anhinga is a native *T of South America, and, notwithftanding ime poffibility that fuch a bird, furniihed with long wings, might traverfe the ocean, like the cormorants and the boobies, I fhould have re- Ari(fbed it to thofe countries; nor would the denomination merely of Senegal Anhinga have altered my opinion, had not a note of Adan- fon, accompanying a ipecimen, affured us, that a fpecies of Anhinga inhabits the coaft of Africa, where the people of the country call ^ 5 '• ; k RUFOUS ANHINGA. 4it It kandar. This Senegal Anhinga differs from thofe of Cayenne, becaufe its neck, and the upper fide of its wings, are of a rufous ful- vous, marked by pencils on a dark brown ground, the reft of the plumage being black. Its figure, its port, and its bulk, are exactly the fame as in the American Anhingas. '' .■VfllN .. .. ■:■>- s 1 ■* ft ^-f^ t* • ■ y i V ! t rt *'•-; ^ ' V 'i' .i ^ .■A:..'U^ \':.. K ■ .. f- z, V ,, , ^ .■*". ; t - .'iv,- "4. V y ■ -* "*■ J t \> ~ -!• ^U^ } J =s * *-.'* ." . r' ■ t' ' J-^ ,'. ft '<:, : V ' : i ' : t . : ii, -i I •iv^ '. - .»^J ..,-71 ' ■ s % ■'I L' ..X T'T t 41* ] <"i ;>* t * . , Ttc S H E A R B I L L. Le Bec-en-Ciseaux. Bttff\ » ■ » Rhyncbeps Nigra. Linn, and Gmel* Rygchop/alia, Briff. The Cufwater* Catefby. Thi Black Skimmer, Penn. and Lath* *T^ H E mode of life, the habits, and (Economy "^ of animals, are not fo free as might be fup- pofed. Their adtions refult not from inclina- tk>n and choice, but are the neceffary effedts of their peculiar organization and ftrudture. Nor do they feek ever to infringe or evade the law of their conftitution : the eagle never abandons his rocks, or the heron her ihores: the one ihoots dov^rn from the aerial regions, to plunder or murder the lamb, founding his prefcriptive right on his ftrength, his armour, and his habi- tual rapine; theothei', {landing in the mire, pa- tiently expe(Ss the glimpfe of its fugitive prey. The woodpecker never forfakes the trees, round which he is appointed to creep. The fnipe muft for ever remain in its marfhes ; the lark in its furrows, and the warbler in its groves. All the granivorous birds feek the inhabited countries, and attend on the progrefs of cultivation. While thofe W!:228 THJB BLACK SIOMMBR. \'-'\ 1, 'f-fs SHEARBILL. 4»3 tl^ofe which prefer wild fruits and berries, per- petually fly before aSvUfid cheridi the wilds, and forefls, and mountains : there, remote from the dwellings of man, they obey the injundions of nature. She retains the hazel grous under the thick (hade of pines ; the folitary blackbird un- der his rock ; the oriole in the forefts, which re- found with its notes ; while the buflard fecks its fubfidence on the dry commons, and the rail in the wet meadows. Such are the eternal, immu- table decrees of nature, as permanent as their forms : thefe great poffeffions ihe never refigns, and on thefe we vainly hope to encroach. And are we not continually reminded of tlie weaknefs of our empire ? She. obliges us even to receive troublefome and noxious fpecies : the rats make a lodgment in our houfes, the martins in our windows, the fparrows in our roofs j and when fhe conducts the ftprk to the top of our old ruinous towers, already the habitation of the mournful family of nodurnal birds, does fhe not haden to refume the poflefilons which we have ufurped for a time, but which the filent lapfe of ages will infallibly reftore to her ? , ir...f.^i • " Thus the numerous and diverfiiied fpecies of birds, led by inflind, and confined by their wants to the different diilridts of nature, have Apportioned among themfelves the air, the earthy and the water. Each holds its place, and en- joys its little domain, and the means of fubfifl- jence, wjiich the extent or defe^ of its faculties Sit:.- ■ ._ .,' - . will hi I If I: ii ' '' " , ll . i''.A 0' fi4 . -^^- ■1, f) 4»4 S H £ A R B t L L. will augment or abridge. And as all the pofH** ble gradations in the fcale of exiftence muft be £lled up, fome fpecies, confined to a fingle mode of fupport, cannot vary the ufe of thofe imper- fedl inftruments which nature has beftowed on them. Thus the fpoonbill feems formed for ga- thering {hell-fifh : the fmall flexible ftrap and the refledled arch of the avofet's bill, reduce it to live on fifh-fpawn: the oyfler-catcher has an ax-fhaped bill, calculated for opening the fhells : and the crofsbill could not fubfift, were it not dextrous in pkicking the fcales from the fir- cones. Laftly, the Shearbill could neither eat iidewife, nor gather food, nor peck forwards ; ita bill confiding of two pieces extremely unequal, the lower mandible, being long and extended dif- proportionately, projects far beyond the upper, into which it falls like a razor into its haft *. To catch its prey with this awkward and defec- tive inftrument, the bird is obliged to fly, ikim- ming the furface, and with its lower mandible cutting the water. By this necefiTary and labo- rious exertion, the only one it can perform, it ihovels up the fifh, and earns its fubfifl:ence -f** Hence fome obfervers have called it cutwater : the name Shearbill (bec-en-cifeauj is derived from • Ray. t They feed on finall f!(h, which Aey catch flying where th« water is (hallow ; they keep their lower mandible almoft alwayi in the water, and when they feel a fl(h they dofe bodi mandibleSf which may be termed the blade"?. Mmoirt on the Natural Hiftory ^ 4Suimtat nnmunicatfd fy M*ih/m Bfnfc, kin^^s fhjfitMm tH Crytntu. the the SHEARBILL. 41S the (hii^lure of its bill ; the lower mandible be- ing hollowed out by a channel, and furnifhed with two fharp ledges, receives the upper onc^ which is flattened like a blade. The point of the bill is black, the part next the head is red, and fo are the feet, which have the fame ftrudture as thofe of the gulls. The Shearbill is nearly equal to the little cinereous mew : the whole upper furface of the body, the fore fide of the neck, and the front, are white: it has alfo a white ftreak on the wing, fome of whole quills, and alfo the lateral ones of the tail, are partly white : all the reft of the plumage is black, or blackifli browu: in fome fubjedls it is fimply brown, which appears to indi- cate a variety from age*; for, according to Catelby, the male and female are of the fame colour. Thefe birds are found on the coafts of Caro- lina and of Guiana ; on the latter they are nu- merous, and appear in flocks, almoft alwa3rs on wing, and only alight in the mire. Though, their wings are very long, their flight is remarked to be flow "f* : if it were fwift, they could not dif- tinguifli and raife their prey, as they tyxQi&d along • Rynehops Fulva. Linii. Specific charader : <* It is falvons, its bill black.'* However^ Gmelin reckons it only a variety. ^ Ms».9irt f$mmvmc«Utd lyl/Ld$ la Bwdu the ■I'bvF • ^ A M-^ * i: ih. lip-. :NI tsS!> f. .ill m* 2 B 3 t 4" J The A V D S E T. t»' AVbCETTE, Buff, RecufviroJira-Avo/itta. LIhn. athd Gmel. Avocttta. Gefner, Aldrov. Johnft. Will. Briff. &c, Recurvirejira. Rzacynfki, Barrerci &€• > \ Plotus Ricurvirejier. Klein. ;,. ; . . '■ The Scooper. Charleton. The Crookid-bill. Dale and Plott. The Scooping Avofet. Penn. and i.ath. * 'Tp H E webbed birds have, for the moft part, •*' fhort legs. Thofe of the Avofet are very long; and this difproportion, which would almofV alone diftinguilh it, is attended with a chara^er flill more lingular, that is, the inverlio i of its bill, which is bent into an arc of a circle, whofe centre lies above the head : the fubflance of the bill is foft and almoft membranous at its tip -f- ; it is thin, weak, llender, comprefled horizontally, and incapable of defence and effort. It is one of • The word Avocetta is of Italian origin ; the bird has alfo in Italy the nantes Beccotorto and £eccore!Ia,expreffLve of its crooked bill ; and on Lake Maggiore it is called Sphixago d*Aquat to diftinguifh it from the curlew, which is termed fimply Spinzago. In Germany it is ftyleJ Frembder WaJJer Vogel (foreign water bird), and Schabel or Schnabel't and in hM&na Kramb/chabl : in Sweden Skider-fla'ecka : in Danifli K/ydtt Lanfugl, Forktert, Regu/tove : in Turkey Zeluk or Keluk. f Linnxus. J thofe ■•«.] 41^ 2\^,230 i'-- 1" \ 1' ir 1 •t f:"- 1 |i4 jMii . '■.: 1 THE SCOOrJJTGAVOSET. I.$j' P tfrf A V O S E T. 413 thofe errors or cflays of nature, which if carried a little farther would deftroy itff^lf ; for if the cur- vature of the bill were a degree ihcreafed, the bird could not procure any fort of food, and the organ deftined for tlio fupport ot life would in- fallibly octafion its dcftrudlibn. iThe bill of the Avofet naay therefore be regarded as the extreiilb model which nature could trace, or at lead pre- lerve ; jlnd for that reafon it is the mod diftant from the forms exhibited in other birds. ■ It is even difficult to conceive how this bird feeds by help of an inftrument that can neither peck nor feize its prey, but only rake in the foftcft mud. It feems to emplby itfelf in fearch- ing the froth of the waves for fifh-fpawn, which appears to be its chief fupport. It probably eats ^ worms alfoi for its bowels contain a glutinous fubftance, fat to the touch, of a colour bordering on orange yellow, in which are fome veftiges of fifli-fpawn and aquatic infedl^. This gelatinous mafs is always mixed in the ftomach with little white cryftalline flonfes * : fometimes in the iftteftines there occurs a gray or earthy green matter, which feems to be the flimy fediment which fredi waters, fwelled by rains, depofit on their bed. The Avofet frequents the mouths of rivers and dreams -f*, in preference to other parts of the fea-fhore. • Willughby fays, that he could find nothing clfe. f At leaft in Picardy, where thefe obfcrvations were m.lde, (In Englai.d alfo, at the mouth of the Severn.) 2 E 4 This ^\^v n;* ..'1,! ;''<.t ■'J'r'-, -'t ji,,.,i AH A V O S E T. This bird is fomewhat larger than the lap- wing : its legs are feven or eight inches high ; its neck is long, and its head round -, its plu- mage is fnowy white on all the fore lide of the body, and interfered with black on the back ; the tail is white, the bill black, and the feet blue. ■> :c_: ■-;.. ; The Avofet runs by means of its long legs on bottoms covered with five or fix inches of water: but in deeper parts, it fwims, and in all its mo- tions it appears lively, alert, and volatile. It Hays but a (liort while in the fame place j and in its paflages to the coaft of Picardy, in April and November, it often difappears the morning after its arrival : fo that fportfinen find great dif- ficulty to kill or catch a few. They are ftill jnore rare in the inland country : yet Salerne fays, that they have been feen to advance pretty high on the Loire. He afiiires us, that they are very numerous on the coafls of Low Poitou, where they breed*. It appears from the route which the Avofets hold in their pafiage, that, on the approach of winter, they journey towards the fouth, and re-^ turn in the fpring to the north : for they occur in Denmark -f*, in Sweden, on the fouthern • The Avofet is very rare in the Orlfeanois ... On the contrary* nothing is more common on the coafts of Lower Poitou ; and in the breec'ng fcafon, the peafants take their eggs by thoufands to eat : when driven ofF its ncSt, it counterfeits lamenefs as much or more than any other bird. Salerne, f MuUer and Brunnich. point A V O S E T. 42t5 point of the iile of Oeland*, on the eaftern coafts of Great Britain -(-. Flocks of them arrive alfo on the weftern {here of that ifland, but re- main no longer than a month or two, and retire when the cold fets in J. Thefe birds only vifit Pruffia II ; they very feldom appear in Sweden ; and, according to Aldrovandus, they are not more frequent in Italy, though well known there, and juftly named §. Some fowlers have afTured us, that their cry may be expreffed by the fyl- lables, crex, crex. But we cannot, on fuch flen- der authority, infer, that the Avofet is the fame with the crex of Ariflotle : — " For the crex,'* fays the philofopher, " wages war againji the ** oriole and the blackbird. And the Avofet can certainly have no quarrel with two birds which inhabit the woods. Befides, the cry, crex^ crex, belongs equally to the jaducka fnipe and the land rail. .. ,, ,, ,. In moft of the Avofets there is dirt on the rump, and the feathers fecm worn off by rubbing. Probably tliefe birds wipe their bill on their feathers, or lodge it among them when they lleep j fincc the form feems as cum- berfome to be difpofed during reft, as awkward for a«5tion, unlefs, like the pigeon, it lays it3 head on its breafi: during repofe. • Linnceus. fRay. X Charleton. Il Rzaczynfki. § Beccotorto ; i. e. twilled-bill. The I II 1 I'l H-.J '■!<-'i !'»! I II 4 'tl. ■1 I 4i6 A V O S E T. The obfervcr * who has communicated thefe fads is pet-fuaded, that the Avofet is at firft gray^ itid he adopts this opinion becaufe many of thofe which arrive in November have the tips of their fcapular feathers gray, as wfeU as thofe of the rump : but thefe feathers, and thofe which cover the wings, prefcrve longeft the livery of their birth : the dull colour of the great quills of the wings, and the p^e tint of their legj; which in the adiiltd arfe of a fiiie blue, leive no doubt but the Avoffets whofe plumage is mixed with gray ait ybung ones. There are few exterior differ- ences in this fj)ecies between the male and fe- ihale : the old mdes have much black, but the old females have nejlrly the fame j only the latter fecm to bfe fihaller, and the he id of the former rounder, with the flelhv tubercle that rifcs under the fkin, near the eye, ihore inflated. We ought not to admit varieties into the fpecies; though the Avofeti of Sweden, according to Linnselis, have the i-ump black, which is white in the multitudes that inhabit a certain lake in Lower Auflria, as Kramer remarks. Whether from timidity or addrefs, the Avofet ihuns fnares, nrul is very difficult to take -f-. The fpecies is nj where common, and feems to con- tain few individuals. • M. Baillon* of Montreuil-fur-mer. f " I have pradiied every poirible (Iratagrm to take thefe birds, ** but could never fucceed." Ol'/cfvations communicated by M, Bailloth '. - ■ : , [A] Specific .V A V O S E T. 417 [A] Specific charafler of the Scooping Avofet, ^ecurviroflra- Avocetta : " It is variegated with black and white." The Avofets are frequent on the eaftern fliores of Great Britain in winter ; they alfo vifit the mouth of the Severn, and fometimes the pools of Shrop- Ihire. They feed on the woims and infedts which they fcoop out of the fand, which ofteh fheWs the tnarki of their bill. They lay two white eggs, as large as a pigeon's, of a greenifli hue, with large fpots of black. They are common in Tartary* about the Cafpian fea. ,■ 1' 'IN ■; i » V, t ' t ■:f ■I M ':■ ■ A ■n 'J :i^. 1'- ■■ if 1 !'■ t 1, r— ■ C 428 ] . 1 ;■:)■•: ' . . ■. .,_ ^ ,,..■, i . .- ;. ... .... ... ; The R U N N E R. .,,•■•,"' • .,',.., -i ,•.. . , - ■ i-\.'y Le Coureur. Buff', Corrira Italica. Gmel. Ccrrira. BriflT. • Trochilus. Aldrov. Johnft. Will. Ray, and Charleton. ^be Italian Courier, Lath. A' L L the birds which fwim, and vrhofe toes are connedled by membranes, have the leg fliort, the thigh contracted, and often partly concealed under the belly. Their feet con- ftruded and difpofed like broad oars, with a fhort handle, and in an oblique pofition, feem cxprefsly calculated for impelling the little ani- mated fhip : the bird is at once the veflel, the rudder, and the pilot. But amidft this grand fleet of winged navigators, three fpecies form a fcparate fquadron : their feet are indeed furnifh- ed with membranes like the other fwimming birds, but they are at the fame time raifed on tall legs, and, in this refpe(3:, refemble the wa- ders. Thus they form the intermediate grada- tion between two very different clafles. Thefe three birds with tall legs and palmated feet are the avofet, the flamingo, and the Run- ^er^ fo called according to Aldrovandus, be- caufe RUNNER. 429 caufe it runs fwiftly along the fhores. That na- turalift, to whom alone we are indebted for the account of this bird, tells us, that it is not rare in Italy. But it is unknown in France, and in all probability it occurs in no other country of Europe, at leaft it is very uncommon. Charle- ton fays, that he faw one, without mentioning whence it came. According to Aldrovandus, the thighs of this bird are (hort in proportion to the length of its legs ; the bill is yellow throughout, but black at the tip ; it is (hort, and does not open much : the mantle is iron gray, and the belly white : two white feathers with black points cover the tail. This is all that the naturalift informs us ; he adds nothing about its meafures ; but, if we judge from his jfigure, they are nearly the fame with thofe of the plover. Both Ariftotle and Athenaeus fpeak of a bird that runs fwiftly, and which they term trochilos, faying, that " it comes in calm weather, to feek " its food on the water." But is this bird a palmiped and fwimmer, as Aldrovandus alTerts, while he refers to it his courier ; or is it not, as /Elian hints, a wader of the kind of gallinules or ringed plovers ? It feems difficult to decide, from the fcanty information tranfmitted from the an- cients. All that we can gather is, that this trochilos is an aquatic bird ; and witK fome pro- bability iElian refers to it the report of anti- quity, that it entered boldly the jaws of the crocodile ii \ f i' , Js4'; I, ; 430 RUNNER. crpcpdile to eat the leeches, gnd w^fn it of th^ approach of the ichneumon. This fabjp h^^ been applied the moft abfurdjy imaginable to ^h© gold-crefted wren, from a confufion pf p^ipes, that little chorifter being often termed tPQcbilou b?c^pfc of its whirling ftight. , i. -t '' \:f ' « ' J^ v?r ''. ' ' .'U -'JS; "^h i- ft ' ^« * ' ** i *«• * ^■*' fi *cX * J 3 J. 10 TfrE RED PLAMIJTGO. I 431 3 The RED F T \ M I N G O. •i' ''•'I Le Flammant, ou Le Phe'nigopte're. PbegHtcopterus Ruber, Linn, and Gmel. Phatnicopterus, Gefner, Aldrov- Johnft. Ray, Briff. &c. • 'T^HE name Phcenicopterus, applied by the •* Greeko, and adopted by the Romans, exprefles the ftriking feature of this bird-— the crimfon colour of its wings. But this is not the only remarkable charader of the bird: the bill is flattened with a fudden bend above, thick and fquared below, like a broad fpoon ; its legs are exceflively tall ; its neck is long and flender j its body is more elevated, though fmaller, than that of the ftork, and pre- fcnts a fingular and confpicuous figure among the great waders. *. \n Qr^ek iPo^rixii^igo^, from ^oivif, the Phoenician dye, and ^m*> a win^. And hence this name has, in the modern languages, been tranflated by words denoting flame-colour. In Portuguefe FUimingo : in Spaniih Flamenco : in French Flambant or Flammant i yfS}f^» ^ BuiFon fays in the text (we have omitted the paflage) wa^ afterwards written Flamand (FUmiflf) ; and, by this ridiculous miftake, the bird was imagined to be a native of Flanders. In France it was anciently called Becharu, becaufe its bill refembles a piough-lhare (foe di cburrufj. In Cayenne it ha^ the name 'J'okoko* Thofe 1:11(0 1 •] If I I 3 :'ri f'l;'. : H ■ •'' ifc '•111 '0't ■'4 11'^ 432 RED FLAMINGO. Thofe large femi-palmated birds, which haunt the fides of waters, but neither dive nor fwim, are judicioufly reckoned by Willughby diftindl and independent fpecies : for the Flamingo in particular feems to form the gradation between them and the clafs of the great fwimmers, which it rcfembles by its half-webs, and becaufe the membrane ftretched between the toes re- cedes in the middle by two fcallops. All the toes are very lliort, and the outer one extremely little : the body alfo is fmall in proportion to the length of its wings and neck. Scaliger compares it to that of the heron, and Gefner to that of the ftork ; remarking, as well as Wil- lughby, the exceffive length of the flendcr neck. When the Flamingo has attained its full growth," fa^s Catefby, ** it is not heavier than a wild duck, and is yet five feet high." Thefe great differences in fize, noticed by au- thors, have a reference to the age as well as to the varieties which they have alfo remarked in the plumage. This is generally foft and filky, and wafhed with red tints of greater or lefs vi- vacity and extent : the great quills of the wing are conflantly black : the coverts, both the greater and leffer, the exterior and interior, are imbued v/ith fine flame-colour; which fpreads and dilutes by degrees over the back and the rump, the breafl and the neck; on the upper part of which, and on the head, the plumage is a 4 ihaven €C t€ €t RED FLAMINGO. 433 i$ fhaven and velvet down. The top of the head is naked i the neck is very (lender, and the bill is broad ; Co that the bird has an uncommon ap- pearance. Its fkuU feems to be raifed and its throat dilated before, to receive the lower man- dible, which is very broad at its origin. The tv^o mandibles form a round and ftraight canal as far as their middle; after which the upper one bends fuddenly, and its convexity changes into a broad furface : the lower mandible refledls proportionally, but always preferves the fhape ot a broad gutter; and the upper one, by a fmall curvature at its point, applies to the ex- tremity of the lower mandible. The lides of both are befet internally with a fmall black in- denting, whofe points are turned backwards. Dr. G -ew, who has defcribed this bill with great accuracy, remarks alfo a filament within, under the upper mandible, and which divides it in the middle. It is black from its tip to where it bends, and from thence to the root it is white in the dead bird, but, in the living fubjedl, it feems liable to vary ; fmce Gefner aflerts, that it is of a bright red, Aldrovandus that it is brown, Willughby that it is blueifh, and Seba that it is yellow. " To a fmall round head," fays Du-^ tertre, " is joined a large bill four inches long, " half red, half black, and bent into the form of " a fpoon." The Academicians, who have de- fcribed this bird under the name of Becharu, VOL. VIII. 2 F fay. ■'i 1 j:l -M At if Wa is,: , . « ";lf .I'll.! :i4 :>l 43f RED FLAMINGO. fay, that its bill is of a pale red, and contain? a thick tongue edged with flefliy papilla, turned backwards, which fills the cavity or the large fpoon of the lower mandible. Wormius alfo defcribes this extraordinary bill ; and Aldrovan- dus renaarks how much nature has fported in its conformation : Ray fpeaks of its flrange figure. But none of them have examined it with fuch attention as to decide a point which^ we ihould be glad to afcertain, viz. whether, as many naturalifls alledge, the upper mandible is moveable, while the lower is fixed » Of two figures of this bird, publifhed by Al- drovandus, and fent to him from Sardinia, the one exprefles not the chara(5ters of the bill, which are accurately portrayed in the other. And we mud remark by the way, that in our plate the fwelling and flattening of the bill are too faint, and that it is reprefented too much pointed. Pliny feems to clafs this bird with the ftorks, and Seba has injudicioully fuppofed that the fhcenicopterus was ranked by the ancients with the ibis. But it belongs to neither of thefe kinds : it forms a feparate divifion. And be- fides, when the ancients placed together analo- gous fpccies, they did not follow the narrow views., or adhere to the fcholaftic methods, of our nomenclators ; they obferved in nature cer- tain refemblances of habits and faculties, which they conjoined in the feme group* 8 We RED FLAAIINGO. 435 We may reafonably wonder that the name phivnicoptertts occurs not in Ariftotlc, though mentioned by Ariftophanes, who ranges it among the marfh birds *. But it was rare and perhaps foreign in Greece. Heliodorus -f* exprefsly fays, that the phcenicopterus inhabited the Nile ; the old fcholiaft on Juvenal f aflerts, that it was frequent in Africa. Yet thefe birds feem not to remain conftantly in the hotted climates ; for fome are found in Italy, and a much greater num- ber in Spain §. It is only a few years fmce fe- veral of them arrived on the coafts of Lan- guedoc and Provence, particularly near Mont- pellier and Martigues ||, and in the fens near Aries ^. I am therefore aftonifhed that fo well- informed an obferver as Bclon fliould affert, that none are ever feen in France, but fuch as had been carried thither. Did this bird extend its migrations firft to Italy, where it was anciently foreign, and thence to the French coafts ? It inhabits, we fee, the countries of the fouth, and is found from the coafts of the Mediterra- nean to the extremity of Africa**. Great f ^thiopic. liL vi. I Sat. xi. 139. § Bclon. II Lifter, j^iniot. in ApUiuntt lib. v. 7. — Ray, Synop/, p. 117, f[ Peirefc. vita, lib. ii. ♦ • Thefe birds arc very common at tlie Cape ; they pafs the day on the fides of the lakes and rivers, and at niglit they retire xo the mountains. Kolben. 2 F 2 numbers ■i'» .'ISl 43^ RED FLAMINGO. numbers occur in the Cape de Verd iflands, ac- cording to Mandeflo, who over-rates the bulk of their body when he compares it to that of a fwan. Dampier met with feme nefls of thefe birds in the iQe of Sal. They are abundant in the weftern provinces of Africa, at Angola, Congo, and BilTao, where, from a fuperftitious refpsd, tlie negroes will not fuffer one of them to be hurt *; and they live undiflurbed in the midft even of the dwellings. They occur like- wife in the bay of Saldana -f, and in all the countries adjacent to the Cape of Good Hope, where they fpend the day on the coaft, and re- tire in the evening to the rank herbs which grow on fome parts of the contiguous lands J. * The Flamliigos are numerous in this canton, and fo refpefted by the Mandingos of a village diftant half a league from Geves, th;it they are found in thoufands; thefe birds are of the bulk of a turkey-cock . . . the inhabitants of thefiime village carry fo far the reipeft for thcin, that they will not permit them to receive the leaft injury. They leave them tranquil on the trees amidft their dwel- lings, without Iveing incommoded by their cries, which however are heard a quarter of a league. I'he French having killed fome of them in this afylum.were obliged to conceal them under the grafs, Jeil: the negroes Hiould be prompted to revenge the death of a bird fo revered. RcJ.ilicn de Bnic, llijl. Gen. dcs Fey. iotn. ii, /. 590. f In the miiltitiidc of birds feen in the bay of Saldana, the pe- licans, the Flamingos, the ravens, which all have a white collar round the neck, iiumbi-rs of fmall birds of difFerjent kinds, not to mention fea-fowl, vvliich are of endlefs variety, fill the air, the trees, and the land, to fuch degree, that a perfon cannot ftir with- out putting up many. Relation dt Dounton, HiJl.G^n, des Voy, torn, ii. /. 4.6. X Hift. Gen, de* Voy. tm, r. /. toi. The RED FLAMINGO. 437 The Flamingo is undoubtedly a migratory bird, but vifits only the warm and temperate regions, and never penetrates to the northern tradls. In certain feafons, they appear in fe- veral places, nor can we be certain whence they come, but they never feem to travel to- wards the north ; and if fome folitary ftragglers are found at times in the interior parts of France, they have been driven thither in a ftorm. Salerne relates, as an extraordinary oc- currence, that one was killed on the Loire. The hot countries are the fcene of their migra- tions : and they have traverfed the Atlantic ; for they are of the fmall number of birds that in- habit the tropical regions of both continents *. They are feen in Valparaifo, at Conception, and at Cuba -f, where the Spaniards call them fiamencos \, Tljey occur on the coafl of Vene- fl t * III tlie iflar.d of Mauritius, or of France, there are many of the birds called giants, becaufe they carry their head fix feet high ; they are exceeding tall, and their neck is very long ; their bojy is not larger than that of a goofe : they feed in marftiy places ; and the dogs often take them by furprize, as they require a confiderable time to rife from the ground. We once faw one at Rodrigue, and it was fo fat that we caught it with the hand : it is the only one which we ever remarked, which makes me think that it had been driven thither by fome violent wind, which it could not refill. This game is pretty good. Lcguat. f In the fmall iflands under Cuba, which Columbus callei.1 the <^ueen''s Garden, there are red birds (haped like cranes, which are peculiar to thefc iflands, where they live on falt-wator, or rather ot\ what they find proper for their fupport in it, Herwa, \ Pe jLaet. . ., 2F 3 zuela. mm^ 438 RED FLAMINGO. zuela, near the White ifland, that of Aves, and that of Roche, which is a group of rocks *. They are well known at Cayenne, where the natives of the country name them tococo j they fly in flocks on the fea-beach "f*. They inhabit alfo the Bahama iflands J. Sir Hans Sloane ranks them among the birds of Jamaica §. Dampier found them at Rio de la Hacha ||, They are extremely numerous at St. Domingo ^, in the A^^tilles and the Caribbee iflands **, where • DeLaet. f Barrere.— The woods at Cayenne are Inhabited by Flamingos* colibris, ocos, and toucans. Voyage de Froger. X Klein. § " Thefe are common in the marfhy and fenny places and " likewife Ihallow bays of Jamaica." II I have feen Flamingos at Rio de la Hacha, and at an ifland fituated near the continent of America, oppodte to Cura9oa, and which the pirates call the Flamingo IJlandt becaufe of the prodigioui^i number pf ^hefe birds which breed in it. Dampier, ^ In St. Domingo, the Flamingos appear in great numbers on the fkirts of the marihes ; and as their feet are exceedingly tall, they may be taken at a diftance for an army in martial array, //j/?. Gen. dcs Voy. torn. xii. /. 228.— The places which the Flamingos frequent the mofl: in St. Domingo, are the marfhes of Gonave and Covy Ifland, (Ijle a Vache) fmall iflands fituated, tlie one weft of Pprt-au-Prince, the other fouth of the city of Cayes. They are fpnd of thefe iflands, becaufe they are not inhabited, and becaufe they find in tliem many lagoons and falt-marflies ; they alfo much frequent the famous pool of Riquille, which belongs to the Spa- niards. They are feen eaft from the plain Cul-de-fac, in a great pool which contains many iflets ; but the number of thefe birds is obferved to diminifti in proportion as the marfties are drained, and the tall timber cut down which fkirts them. Extrafffrom the Me- jnoirs communicated by the Chevalier Lefebvre Dcjhayeu ** Hernandez, Rochefort. they RED FLAMINGO. 43^ they live in the little fait pools and the lagoons. That figured by Seba was fent him from Cura- ^oa. They occur alfo in Peru -^''*, and as far as Chili "f*. In (hort, there arc few parts of South America where navigators have not met with them. ' ■ : Thefe American Flamingos are entirely the fame with thofe of Europe and Africa. The fpecies appears fingle and disjoined^ fince it admits of no variety. Thefe birds breed on the coafts of Cuba and of the Bahama iflands J on the deluged fhores, and the low iflets, fuch as that of ^ves^, where J^abat found a number with their nefts. Thefe ar^ little heaps of clayey and miry foil gathered f* . i che marfhes, and raifed about twenty inches into a pyramid in the middle of the water, which conftantly waihes the bafe ; the top is truncat- ed, hollow, and fmooth, and, without any bed of feathers or herbs, receives the eggs, which the bird covers, fays Catelby, by fitting acrofs the hillock ||, its legs hanging down, like a man on • De Laet. f Frezier. X Catelby. § Fifty leagues to the windward of Dominica. || I was ihown a great number of thefe ncfts ; they refembit truncated cones* compofed of fat earth, about eighteen or twenty inches high, and as much in diameter at the bafe ; they are always in water, that is, in meres or marfhes : thefe cones are folid to the height of the water, and then hollow like a pot bored at top; in ^hJ8 ^ey lay ^wo eggs, which they hatch by refting on them, and 2 F 4 covering v% '• ii f |»i'? n ^■A :;,-H 440 RED FLAMING O/' on a ilool: fo that only the rump and lower belly are of fervice in the incubation. This fingular pofition it is obliged to adopt on ac- count of the lepgth of its legs, which could never be bent under it if it were fquat. , Dam- pier gives the fame defcription of the mode of hatching in the illand of Sal *. ^ • ' • i^' i The nefts are always placed in the falt- marfhcs ; they contain only two or at moft three eggs, which are white, as thick as thofe of a goofe, and fomewhat longer. The young do not begin to fly till they have gained almoft their full growth } but they run remarkably fwiftly a few days after they are hatched. - i i The plumagt is at iirft of a light gray, and that colour beQomes deeper, in proportion as covering the hole with their tail. I broke fome, but found neir ther feathers, nor herbs, nor any thing that might receive the eggs: the bottom is fomewhat concave, and the fides are very even. Labat. * They make their neft in the marflies, where they can find plenty of flimc, which they heap with their claws, and form hil- locks refembling little iilets, and which appear a foot and a half above the water; they make the bafe broad, and taper the ftruc- ture gradually to the top, where they leave a fmall hollow to receive their eggs. When they lay or hatch, they (land ereft, not on the top but very near it, their feet on the ground and in the water, leaning themfelves againft the hillock, and covering the neft with their tail : their legs are very long, and as they make their neft on the ground, they could not, without injuring their eggs or their young, have their legs in the neft, nor fit, nor fiipport their whole body but for (his wonderful inftind which nature has given them. They never lay more than two eggs, and feldom fewer. Their young ones cannot fly till they are airaoft full grown j but will run pvodigioufly faft, pamfter, •..../ 9 their RED FLAMINGO. 441 their feathers grow ; but it requires ten or twelve months before their body attains its full fize, and then they afllime their fine colour, whofe tints are faint when they are young, and grow deeper and brighter as they advance in age *. Ac- cording to Catefby, two years pafs before they acquire the whole of their beautiful red colour. Fathfir Dutertre makes the fame remark -j-. But whatever be the progrefs of this tint in the plumage, the wing firft acquires the colour, and is always brighter than the other parts. The red afterwards fpreads from the wing to the rump, then to the back and the breaft, and as far as the neck : only in fome individuals there are flight varieties of Ihades, which feem to fol- low the differences of climate : for example, the Flamingo of Senegal feemed to have a deep red, and that of Cayenne inclined to orange ; but that variation was not enough to conftitute two fpe- cies, as Barrere has done. Their food is in every country nearly the fame. They eat ftiell-fifli, fifli-fpawn, and aquatic in- fedls : they feek them in the mud, into which they thruft their bill and part of their head j at .1 • They UifFer in colom, their plumage being white when they are young ; then, in proportion as they grow, they become rofe co- ■ loured ; and laftly, when aged, they are entirely carnation. De JLaet, and Lahat. f " The young are much whiter than the old ones ; they *' incline to red as they grow old : I have fecn fome alfo which had f' their wings mixed with red, black, and while feathers; I believe ♦• that thclie are n^ales." the It 1 443 RED FLAMINGO. the fame time they continually pufli their feet downwards, to carry the prey with the dime to their bill, which is fitted by its indenting to re- tain any fubflance. It is a fmall feed, fays Catefby, like millet, that they bring up by thus puddling in the mire. But it probably is nothing clfe than the egg of fome infed: -, for the flies and gnats are furely as abundant in the over- flowed plains of America as in the low grounds of the north, where Maupertuis faw whole lakes covered with fuch eggs, refembling the grains of millet *, In the iflands of the new world, thefe birds may find abundance of this fort of food J but on the coafts of Europe they fubfift on fifh, the indentings of their bill ferv- ing like teeth to hold the flippery prey. They appear to prefer the fea-fhore : if they are feen on rivers, fuch as the Rhone "I , it is liever far from their mouth. They haunt more conftantly the inlets, fait - marihes, and low coafts ', and it has been obferved, that in rear- ing them they require fait- water to drink J. Thefe birds always go in flocks -, and to fi(h, they naturally form themfelves into a line, which at a diftance has a Angular appearance, like a file of foldiers §. This propenfity to difpofe themfelves in ranks ftill adheres to them when. * CEuvres de Maupertuis, torn. ill./. ii6. f Peirefc. vita, W. ii. X De Laetj Labat, and Charlevoix. ^ Hiit. Gen. desVoy. tern, xii. /. zzg^ placed RED FLAMINGO. 44) placed one againft another, they repofe on the beach *. They ftation fentinels and keep a fort of guard, as ufual with all gregarious birds. When they are engaged in fifhing, their head' plunged in the water, one of them remains fentry, keeping his head eredt "f* : on the leaft menace of danger, he gives a loud cry, audi- ble at a great diftance, and much like the found of a trumpet " ; '^antly the who! ' ^nck rifes, and preferves in its night an order iimilar to tl * of cranes. Yet if thefe birds be fuddenly fur- prized, they remain ftupid and motionlefs thro* fear, and afford the fowler time to knock them I * They ufually reft upon their legs, one againft the other, in a fingle line ; in this fituation any perfon at the diftance of half a mile would take them for a brick wall, becaufe they have cxaftly the fame colour. Roberts ^ Hift. Gen. dcs Foy, torn. x\, p. 364, f ** They are conftantly on their guard againft any fuiprizal by ** their enemies, and it is alledged that fome ftand as fentinels while ** the reft are occupied in fearching for food ; befides, they .ire laid ** to fmell powder at a diftance, and are therefore approached with ** difficulty. Our old buccaneers employed a ftratagem for killing " them fimilar to what the people of Florida are laid to ufe, in " order to approach the deer ; they covered themfelves with ox- *' Ikins, and advanced againft the wind upon the Flamingos, which, ** being accuftomed to fee oxen feed in the favannas, are not intimi- " dated, and thus the hunters can eafily fire at them." Charlevo-ix. X " Thefe birds have fuch a ftrong voice, that any perfon hear- '* ing them would fuppofe they were trumpets founding ; and while *• they have their head concealed, dabbling in the water, like the " fwans, to find there fubfiftence, there is always one that continues " ereft as fcntinel, its neck extended, its eye watchful, its head " roving : as foon as it perceives a perfon, it founds the trumpet, *« gives alarm to its diftrid, riles the firft on wing, and all the ■i' reft follow it." Idem. 1 (' 1 down 444 RED FLAMINGO. down one after another. Of this we are informed by Dutertre, and it may alfo reconcile the oppo- fite accounts of navigators; fome reprefenting the Flamingos as timorous birds *, which can hardly be approached "f-, while others aflert, that they are heavy and ftupid X* and fuffcr themfelves to be killed one after another ||. Their flefh is highly efleemed. Catefby com- pares its delicacy to that of the partridge : Dam- pier fays, that it has a very good flavour, though lean : Dutertre found it to be excellent, notwith- ftanding a flight marfliy tafte. Mofl: travellers give the fame account §. M. de Peirefc is almofl: the only one who afl*erts that it is bad : but, be- lidcs the difference produced by climate, thefe • " Their hearing and fmell are (6 acute, that they can wind at ** a great diftance the fowlers and the fire-arms; and alfo, to avoid •* all furprize, they prefer alighting on open places in the midft ** of marlhes, whence they can defcry their enemies from afar, and «' there is always one of the band that keeps watch." Rochefort, jK^. des Jntilles, ■f Thefe birds are difficult to approach : Dampier and two other fowlers having placed themfelves in the evening near their retreat, fiirprized them fo fuccefsfuUy as to kill fourteen at three fl;ots. Roberts, in the Hifi. Gen, des Foy. torn, ii. /. 364. X « Stolida J vis" fays Klein. II A man concealing himfelf from their fight, may kill a great number of them ; for the report of a difcharge does not make them ilir, nor are they alarmed at feeing their companions killed in the midft of them ; but they remain with their eyes fixed, and, as it were, ftruck with aftonilhment, till they are all deftroyed, or at leaft moft of them. Catejhy. § Thefe birds are numerous near the Cape ; their flefh is whole- fome and favoury ; their tongue is faid to have the tafte of marrow. ////?. Gen, des Voy, torn, v. f. 201.— They are fat, and their flefli is* deijcat?. Rochefort. birds RED FLAMINGO. I 44S birds muft be exhaufled and lean with fatigue, when they arrive on our coafts. The ancients fpeak of them as being exquifite game *. Philo- ftratus reckons them among the delicacies of en- tertainments -f*. Juvenal, upbraiding the Romans with their wafteful luxury, fays, that they cover their tables with the rare birds of Scythia, and with the phcenkopterus, Apicius defcribes the fcientific mode of feafoning them J; and it was this man, lahot fays Pliny, was the deepeft abyfs of ivajiefidnefs ^f that difcovered in the tongue of the Flamingo that exquifite relifh, which recom- mended it fo highly to epicures §. Some of our navigators, • When Caligula had reached fuch a pitch of folly as to fancy himfelf a divinity, he chofe i\iQ pheemcopterus and the peacock as the moll exquifite vidlims to be olFered up to his godfliip ; and the day before he was imaflacred, fays Suetonius, he was bcfprinkled at a fa- crifice with the blood oi ^phcenicopterus. In Fit, Calig. c. 57. f Vita Apollon. lib. viii. X " Cleanfe, walh, and trufs the phcenicopterus ; put it into a *' kettle ; add water, fait, and a little vinegar. At half boiling, tie *' in it a bunch of leeks and coriander, that it may flow : near boil- •' ing, drop into it fpiccd wine, and colour the mixture. Put into " a mortar pepper, cummin, coriander, the root of lafer, mint, « rue; pound thefc, pour on vinegar, add walnut-date. Pour " on it its own gravy, and turn the whole back into the lame ket- <* tie : clofe it with (larch ; pour on the gravy, and carry it in." Otherv.j/e : " Roaft the bird; grind pepper, loveage, parfley- " feeds, fefame, fpiced wine, wild parfley, mint, dry onions, " walnut-dates ; and temper the whole with honey, wine, pickle, " vinegar, oil, and fpiced wine." De Ob/hti, & Ccndim. lib. vi. 7. II Phcvnicoptcri linguam pracipui ejfefaporis Ap'idus dociiit, nepoUim emniu?n altij/imus gurges, § Lampridius reckons among the extravagancies of Heliogaba- lus, hi^i ordering for his table diilies filled with the tongues of the \.,, phenicoptcrus* *ti 446 RED FLAMINGO. navigators, whether from the prejudice derived from antiquity, or from their own experience, commend the delicacy of that morfel *. The fkin of thefe birds, which is well clothed with down, ferves for the fame purpofes as that of the fwan -f. They may be ealily tamed, either by taking them young from the neft J, or by en- fnaring the adults in gins, or any other way || j for fhoenicopttrus. Suetonius fays, tkat VitclHus bringing together the delicacies of all the parts of the world, caufed to be ferved up at hi« entertainments, at once« the livers of rcari,the roes of murxnx, the brains of pheafants and peacocks, and the tongues oi phcenkopters \ and Martial, upbraiding the Romans for their deftrudlive tafte, makes this bird complain in the following lines : Dat miht penna rubem notnen \ fed lingua gulojis Noflra/apit: quidt Ji garrula lingua fortt ? * But above all, their tongue pafles for the moil exquifite mor- fel that can be eaten. jD«/f/-/rtf.— Their tongue is very large, and near the root there is a lump of fat, which makes an excellent mor- fel. A plate of Flamingos tongues, according to Dampier, would be a difh fit for the king's table. Roberts^ f They are flayed, and their fkins are made into excellent fur, which would be very ufeful for perfoiis troubled with a cold debili- tated llomach. Dutertre. X 1 wifhed much to have young ones to tame ; for this fucceeds, and I have fcen fome very familiar at the boufe of the gove/nor of Martinico ... In lefs than four or five days the young ones which we took came to cat out of our hands; yet I kept them always faft- ered, wichout trufting much to them ; for one which was loofened fled as fwift as a iiare, and my dog could with difficulty overtake it. Labat. II « A wild Flamingo havin,'^ alighted m a mere near our dwcl- " ling, a tame Flamingo was driven thither, aiid the negro boy who " hail the charge of it, carried the trough in which it fed to the edge " of the mere, at fome dillance, and concealed himfclf hard by ; ♦' the tame Flamingo foon approached, and the wild one followed, " and defiring to partake in the repast, v. began to fight and chafe *• it* !tED FLAMINGO. 447 for though very wild in the flate of liberty, the Flamingo, when once caught, is fubmiffive, and even affedlionate. In fadt, it has rather a timo- rous than a lofty fpirit ; and the fame fear^which prompts it to fly, fubdues it after it is taken. The Indians have completely tamed them. M* De Peirefc faw them very familiar, fmce he gives feveral particulars of their domeftic life. They cat more in the night, he fays, than in the day, and foak their bread in water. They are fenll- ble to cold, and creep fo clofe to the fire as to burn their feet ; and when one leg is difabkd. ;ii *' its rival ; fo that the little negro, who lay on the ground as if he' " had been dead, fnatched the opportunity to catch the bird by *' feizing its legs. One of tliefe Flamingos, caught nearly in the *' fame manner, lived fifteen years in our court-yard; it continued ** on good terms with the poultry, and even carefied its fellow- « lodgers, the turkies and ducks, by fcratching tlieir back with its *' bill. It fed on the fame grain as the other poultry, provided that ♦* it was wetted with a little water ; it could eat only by turning the ** bill to lay hold of its food iidewife : it dabbled like the ducks. " and knew thofe pei Tons fo well who ufually took care of it, that ** when hungry it went to them and pulled their clothes with its *' bill : it often kept itfqlf mid-legs in water, feldom changing its ** place, and plunging from time to time its head to the bottom, t» ** catch fmall filhes, which it prefers to grain. Sometimes it ran " on the water, Ihiking it alternately with its claws, and fupport- ** ing itfelf by the motion of its wings half extended. It was not ** fond of fwimming, but only of puddling with its feet in Ihallow " water. When it fell, it rofe with great difticulty ; and accordingly " it never relied on its belly to flcep : it only drew one of its legs " under it, leaned upon the other, paffed its neck upon its back, " and concealed its head between the end of its wing and its body, " always on the fide oppofite to the leg which was bent." Letter froM M' Pcmmkst commamler cf niilitia in the dijli-iii of X:j>es, at St, Do* mingo, communicated hy tk: Chevcili:r DfJ}:ayci. Ki they 448 RED FLAMINGO. they walk on the other, and alTifl their motion by ufing their bill like a crutch on the ground. They flecp little, and reft only on one leg, the other being drawn under the belly. Yet they are delicate, and difficult to rear in our cli- mates : it appears even, that, though pliant to the habits of captivity, that ftate is very unfuitable to their nature, fince they cannot fupport it long, but drag out a languifhing cxiftence; for they never propagate when re- duced to domeftication. , . END OF THE EIGHTH VOLUME. • *